


Birds of a Feather

by straw_berri_milk



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mentions of Dubcon, Minor Character Death, Panic Attacks, Sexual Humor, Violence, loosely follows canon up until lesson 15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:20:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 70,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27532141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/straw_berri_milk/pseuds/straw_berri_milk
Summary: After leaving Hell for what Rin anticipated to be the last time more than several years ago. Lord Diavolo's offer is much too tempting and she decides that rooming with the Seven Sins shouldn't be too challenging until it is. She didn't think any of this would happen, that she'd ever feel this way, that she'd be wanting to stay with them.The question is if they'll find her out before then.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 40





	1. "Home" Coming

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first longfic ever and the first time I'm writing fic for people to read in general! I should have everything tagged properly, but if I'm missing anything let me know! Thanks to my buddies (y'all know who are you <33) for inspiring me and to my betas <3 The chapter number might change but I'm 98% sure it won't!

* * *

_I’m lost without you dear._

* * *

“Doesn’t look like much has changed,” Rin says to herself. 

The halls of the palace have always been grand. Giant marble pillars support arched ceilings, fantastic paintings depicting famous scenes from Hell’s history sprawled all over them. She knows that if she looks up there was a chance her own figure would be standing there to greet her. Despite how many millennia it had been since she was last here, she knew the layout of Lord Diavolo’s castle by heart. It didn’t matter how much time would pass - the halls would forever be burned into her mind; reds, whites, and golds forever embedded into her soul. 

“My Lady.” Barbatos greeted her at the door, the butler dressed to the nines as expected.

Under normal circumstances, she would have felt severely underdressed in her sweater and jeans but it was more a show that she didn’t care about what Diavolo had to say today. A political statement perhaps. Her painted lips smirked at the thought as she walked through the door, spotting the Prince behind his desk. 

His office was equally as majestic, a room far too big for the one demon alone. Books lined the walls composed of old scriptures and historical texts that the royal family collected. A giant window overlooked the Devildom, a physical representation of how much higher he held himself in regard to the other demons he ruled over. It always unnerved her to be in the room alone, not liking just how formal and stiff the air felt. It was suffocating. 

“Aiya, it’s lovely to see you again,” Diavolo says, smiling at her charmingly. Perhaps it would have worked on her in her youth but today she wasn’t having any of it. 

“I told you to call me Rin. What is it you want?” she corrects him, crossing her legs. “I don’t exactly recall telling you I missed being down here.”

“I want to prepare an exchange program,” he says simply. “One that will require the cooperation of the three realms. The other two realms have already agreed. It’s a matter of when I begin the program at this point.” 

“Alright. Why am I here?” 

“You’re the only demon I can think of from the human realm who can hold her own against the seven brothers. I wanted to ask you to pilot the program as the human representative.” He rests his hands on the desks as he speaks, leaning in closer to her. Instinctively she backs away, not liking how close he was to her. 

“What do you mean? And as a human? We both know that’s not what I am.” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her? An exchange program? Seven brothers? It had been a while since she saw them all. 

Diavolo sighs, standing back up and walking over to the window that sat behind his desk. The Devildom nights were always something she found beautiful, even though they didn’t look too different from the days. There was just something different about them. Something comfortable to her. 

“I wish for two humans to come from the Earthly Realm. One of them will be Solomon. The other is undecided,” he explains. “However, an actual human would be in too much danger. Solomon will be staying at Purgatory Hall. Another human needs to stay at the House of Lamentation where the brothers stay.” 

“So instead of, oh I don’t know, finding a human who’s skilled in magic like Solomon you decided to ask me?” A scoff leaves her lips as she sits there, incredulous at the offer. 

“I thought I made it clear when I left. I don’t want anything to do with you people,” she reiterates, tapping her heel impatiently. 

“I’m aware Aiya.” His blatant disregard for her correction annoyed her even more, making her scowl. 

“However, I am willing to make it worth your while.” At this her eyebrow raises. This was a good opportunity. 

“Alright, I’m listening.” Their gazes meet, black against gold. 

“The other two lords have agreed to present you with one favour. You can ask them for anything. I am willing to offer you three.” She whistles lowly at his offer. 

“Three favours? And I can ask you for anything?” Diavolo nodded, seeming incredibly serious. 

“Think of yourself acting as the pilot for this program. I want this to be as successful as possible. In order to manage that, I need to see how the brothers will deal with someone they believe to be human, how they’ll treat you in their home. You can’t let it slip who you are or what you are. Can you do that?” She scoffs at his offer, annoyed that he assumed she agreed.

“Oi, I didn’ say that I agreed to it asshole. I’m considerin’ your deal, got it? Don’t get too ahead of yourself,” she growls.

Her palms went to brace her weight on the table as she vaulted over his desk, landing to stand on his chair to meet his height, being much smaller than he was, or most demons on average. He walked back over to her, bracing himself against the back of the leather as they continued to stare each other down, now standing so close at this point that their noses touched.

“Five favours in total. Three from you, one each from the others. I got other things you gotta do for me. Ready to listen?” The same smile returned to his lips as he listened to her, not placating her in the least. 

“Of course, My Lady,” he teased. She straightened her back, beginning to count off her requests. 

“One. I can only do this if they don’t know who I am. If they somehow recognise me which they shouldn’t, I won’t do it. Two. You don’t get to interfere with anything. You’re only going to make sure I don’t get myself killed. You don’t make any decisions for me. Three. You don’t get to meddle in our relationships. Whatever happens, happens. You aren’t allowed to tell me I can’t be friends with them, become their mortal enemy, whatever. It's MY rules, not yours. And finally, you have to get me food from the human realm. I hate the food down here. Got it Prince?” she mocks, tempted to spit on him. 

Thanks to their proximity it made it easy for him to grab her waist, pulling her into his much larger body as a hand came to cup her chin. She didn’t bother struggling against his grasp and waited for him to do whatever it was he wanted. It wouldn’t be too big an issue for her to bite down hard enough that he’d let go. Or so she hoped. 

“Of course. I agree with all these conditions if you’ll agree to do this for me. It’s a big job I can’t ask just anybody.” His breath fanned across her face uncomfortably and she decided she had enough. 

“Alright then, let me go now.” For a moment it looked like he wouldn’t, eyes raking over her form. 

“You’re still as beautiful as the day Luciel introduced us,” he says suddenly. Her hands fly up to push against his chest, forcing him to let her go. 

“When do I start?” she asked, annoyance obvious in her voice. “And what’s the exchange program like? Am I just going to be doing shadow work or something?” He seemed a little startled at how abruptly the subject changed, staring at the space she used to occupy. 

“You’ll start in the next month. You’ll be attending the Royal Academy of Diavolo or R.A.D for short. I expect that you’ll perform well in class.” She stared at him open-mouthed. 

“You-I-Demons go to school?!” A sharp peal of laughter rang through the air as she struggles to catch her breath. 

“You put demons through school?! What’s the point?! Oh no, I can’t do algebra! What am I going to do? What if the human I’m trying to seduce only gets aroused by a perfect sinusoidal function?!” Rin fell back into the armchair, running her fingers through her hair as she continued to cackle. He waits for her to calm down before speaking again.

“The logistics of this aren’t important. What is important is your cooperation. Can you give it to me?” 

“Yeah, yeah I will. Christ, that wasn’t what I was expecting,” she wiped a tear out of her eyes as she spoke, still finding the idea of a demon school hilarious. Diavolo flinched a bit at the exclamation. 

“I don’t suggest speaking like that around the brothers. It’d be much better for you to find…different exclamations.” Her eyes roll at the suggestion. 

“I’m not that idiotic. I got some ideas as to what else I can say. But seriously, what the fuck man?” He stays silent at her question and she sighed. 

“Got it, got it. I’ll go home and pack. Don’t worry too much about it. How long are you thinking?” 

“I think at least one academic year. I want you to be able to experience everything.” For some reason, he seemed relieved. His body softened and his voice seemed more relaxed. 

“Thank you so much for agreeing. Hopefully, with this, I can achieve my dream of uniting all three realms.” Now he seems like a happy child who got what he wanted but she guesses that wasn’t too far from the truth. 

“Alright then. Thanks for offerin’. I guess. At least you asked before kidnapping me. If you kidnapped me I’d be pretty fucking pissed. Have a good time Diavolo- I’ll see you when I see you.” She turned away from him, opening the door and walking out of the palace. Her surroundings shifted until she got back home, flopping back onto her bed. 

Her eyes slide to the wedding photo she kept on her bedside table. 

How long had it been at this point? The metal on her finger seems to weight more than usual as she sighs, flipping the photo onto the wood. Her body hums with a need she was much too familiar with. She tries to ignore it, staring blankly at her ceiling. 

“I have a feeling something’s going to happen darlin’.” She says to nobody in particular.

“I hope you’re alright with that.” 


	2. Welcoming Party

* * *

_ A new chapter. A brand new start for me, I suppose. _

* * *

Rin stands in the middle of her bedroom, eyeing the assortment of stuff sprawled on the bed. Her suitcase sits next to her, already packed to the brim with clothes and notebooks. If she was going to go to school she was going to make sure she’d at least pass. An entire separate box of just her stationery sits next to her as she deliberates over what other hobby things she wants to bring. A camera rests in her hands as she walks back and forth, arguing the pros and cons of the lenses when her phone lights up with a text. 

“What the-” She walks over to the bedside table, glancing at the screen. 

Diavolo: 

_ Hello. I hope you are ready to come down to the Devildom soon. Anticipate a portal opening near you within the next hour.  _

“Fuck.” She grabs the largest lens, carefully packing it before finally closing up her last bag, snapping her fingers to put everything else away. 

All the objects on her bed disappear out of sight, going back to where they belong. She runs through the small home, drawing all the curtains and locking the doors before heading back to her room and picking her phone back up, replying to his text. 

Rin:

_ I’ll be ready by then. _

A sigh passes her lips as she brings all her things up to the living room, walking over to her kitchen to make sure she didn’t forget anything. The once stocked fridge and pantry were now fully empty, everything now sitting in a separate box. She thought that perhaps one of the brothers might enjoy the offering and she didn’t want to come home to a house that stank of rotting meat or mouldy bread. 

“Oop, better do this before I forget,” she says to herself. 

Various medications sat on the table, pills meant to help her conceal her own aura. Her glamour could only do so much. The demon brothers would be able to see through her disguise pretty soon if she wasn’t careful. Carefully, she took them all, making sure there were no adverse effects to her body before chugging another glass of water to wash them all down. She decides to go over to her washroom for a final lookover. 

The face that stares back at her in the mirror seems a little less tired than usual for once, dark eyes unblinking as she takes herself in. She made sure to do her makeup as simple as possible, winging her eyeliner to further accentuate her narrow eyes, a result of the fox demon in her. Her lips were a deep shade of red as per usual, making her skin seem a little paler than it actually was. Her numerous piercings were taken out, not exactly sure if Lucifer would appreciate seeing someone who looked like a punk, her tattoos for now hidden under her glamour in addition to her scars. 

She smiles at the face in the mirror, hoping it seems genuine enough to get the brothers to at least think of her as agreeable. Humming contently to herself, she begins to dance to music in her head back out to her living room, laying down on her floor as she waits for the portal to suck her up. 

~~~

Lucifer and his brothers stand in the council room, waiting patiently for the appearance of the exchange student. Lord Diavolo told him they chose an adult female hailing from the land of Japan. An adult would be easier to room with Lucifer felt, seeing as they should be more mature and willing to help out around the home without too much complaining. While he was allowing them to stay in his home, he wasn’t just going to let them stay for free. 

“Well then, are you all ready for her to appear?” Lord Diavolo asks him. Lucifer nods alongside his brothers, heading to his Lord’s side as he watched the portal open. 

A woman appears as the light from the portal fades. She doesn’t seem scared at all by the surroundings, most likely due to the fact that Lord Diavolo already filled her in on what would be happening. Her gaze looks around the room curiously as Lucifer takes in her appearance. 

She was shorter than he expected, perhaps just a little over five feet and it wasn’t just an illusion from the fact that he was standing on the podium. Her hair was long and sleek, simply tied back to show delicate-looking features on a slightly rounded face, reminding him of an elegant fox. She wore a simple blouse and skirt with heels, adding height to her lithe frame but not very much.

For demon standards, she was definitely not unattractive at all. One could even be pressed to say she was pretty. Perhaps some of the other demons would leave her alone, or maybe she’d be attacked because of it. Internally, he knew that he’d have to make sure Mammon kept her safe. If he didn’t, Lord Diavolo’s reputation would be ruined. 

As he and Lord Diavolo approach her she bows lightly, much to Lucifer’s delight. The little human has manners it seems. Considering how weak humans are in comparison to the demons, it’d probably do her better to be this cooperative her whole time here. He listened as Lord Diavolo speaks, gauging his own brother’s reactions behind him via their auras. None of them seemed to be outwardly hostile towards her. Good. 

“Welcome to the Devildom Rin. My name is Diavolo and I am the next in line to be the King of Hell. I’d like to take this chance to formally introduce you and welcome you to the Royal Academy of Diavolo, or R.A.D for short. In addition to being the Prince of Hell, I am also the President of the Student Council here. I’ll let Lucifer take it from here. He’s the Avatar of Pride and my right-hand man. Not only does he act as the Vice President of the Student Council, but he also is one of my closest friends,” Lord Diavolo turns to smile at the demon, sending a shiver down Lucifer’s spine. 

“Flattery will get you nowhere my Lord,” Lucifer says, turning his attention back to the human in front of him. He smiles at her. 

“Speaking on behalf of the student body at this great and storied school of ours I offer you a most heartfelt welcome Rin.” She smiles back at him, nodding. 

“Thank you for the opportunity. I’m flattered that the Avatar of Pride came out to personally welcome me in addition to the Demon Lord.” Her voice took him aback. It wasn’t as high as he was expecting. Instead, it was a low sound, the kind of voice you’d expect to hear from someone trying to soothe a sleeping child. 

“Lucifer, was it?” she asks. 

“Yes, my name is Lucifer. You are one of four exchange students that will be staying here and one of two human students. The other two are angels. Your period of stay will be one year and at the end of the year you’ll be writing a paper about your time here in the Devildom.” His eyes narrow as she lets out a light snicker when he finishes speaking. 

“Is something amusing?” he asks, stepping in closer. She shakes her head. 

“Apologies. I just find it amusing that I’ve been sent to Hell and told to write a paper.” A light smile makes its way onto her lips. 

“I suppose I thought maybe I could make a more interesting project. My mistake.” Something about her tone made him wary of her and he mentally reevaluates his initial perception of her. Maybe she wasn’t tame as he thought. No matter; he could correct it soon enough. 

“It will be a paper. Don’t worry, it’s nothing too incredibly complex. Just a simple essay will do. Now, I do need to let you know that I won’t be leaving you alone.” He reaches into his pocket, giving her a D.D.D. 

“This is the equivalent of a human’s phone. My brother, the Avatar of Greed Mammon will be the one looking after you during your time here. He’s…” Lucifer finds himself at a loss for words. “You’ll see. Now, try calling him.” 

She obeys him silently, turning the device on to locate the call icon and calling the number listed under Mammon’s name. 

“Hello?” Her voice raises a few octaves, seeming much more like what he expected it to sound like. Feminine and pretty. 

“Lucifer told me to call you.” She waits for Mammon’s response before turning back to Lucifer, a confused look on her face. 

“He said he won’t be coming to some silly human’s aid. Should you try talking to him?” He takes the phone from her, greeting his younger brother.

“I expect you here within the next ten seconds. Ten, nine…” Lucifer drawls, watching as the human stiffens at the sound of his voice.

“Yes Lucifer!” Mammon yells. Lucifer hears the demon begin to run from wherever he currently was. He returns the phone to Rin, letting her tuck it into a pocket. 

“Rin, your things will already be at the House of Lamentation.” His eyes drop to her left hand, adorned with expensive-looking rings. “I see you have a lot of jewellery. I suggest you keep it away from Mammon. There’s no telling if he’ll try to steal it off of you.”

“Oh, right.” She fans her fingers out in front of her face. “Thanks for the reminder Lucifer. I’ll be sure to keep an inventory of all my things.” 

“I’m glad to see that you’re very cooperative Rin,” Diavolo says. Lucifer nods in agreement. “I hope you enjoy your time here.” She looks behind the two demons, meeting the curious glances of the other brothers.

“Can I meet them as well?” she asked, pure curiosity in her voice. Lucifer groans internally, frowning. 

“As much as I dread introducing them, I guess I should. You will be staying with all of us after all,” he sighed. He turns, preparing to introduce the brothers that were present before Asmo started speaking.

“Oh come on! Lucifer, you should be honoured to introduce such a sweet and charming little brother such as myself!” he whines, smiling at the human brightly. Lucifer can already tell that Asmo wants to try his hand at charming the human. 

“This one is Asmodeus, fifth eldest and the Avatar of Lust. Be careful around him, you’ll never know when he’ll be attempting to charm you,” Lucifer says. Asmo’s sharp whine of objection sounds from behind him as he continues to ignore his brother. 

“Lucifer! Don’t just say this one!” he complains. 

“At least he didn’t outright ignore you. How do you think I feel?” Lucifer rolled his eyes at Satan’s statement, a tight smile on his lips. 

“That one is Satan, fourth oldest and the Avatar of Wrath. Don’t let him deceive you. He may look like he’s got a good head on his shoulders but you’ll find he’s quite the opposite.”

“Aha, so I get to be  **that** one huh? It’s lovely to meet you Rin.” She nods at Satan, the first brother other than Lucifer to acknowledge her personally. 

“Likewise,” she replies.

From behind Lucifer, Asmo walked up to the human, a mischievous look on his face. 

“As the Avatar of Lust, it pretty much sums up my sin and powers. Now Rin, look into my eyes.” Lucifer watches the human oblige to Asmo’s request, dark eyes staring at Asmo’s lighter ones. 

“Yes, that’s it.” Asmo encourages. He suddenly frowns, turning to Lucifer then back at the human. 

“I-that’s strange. I can’t charm you right now. Maybe I’m tired or something,” he tries to explain. Rin shakes her head, patting his shoulder reassuringly. 

“It’s alright, I’ll be here for a year, right? You have tons of time to try again!” Asmo brightens up at her suggestion, nodding enthusiastically. 

“Oi, you should be careful,” Satan warns. “Don’t egg him on like that. If he charms you well enough he’ll eat you once you’re under his spell.” Her eyes widen at his warning. 

“Noted, thank you.” 

Lucifer clears his throat, interrupting their conversation. 

“If you’re done now I’d like to continue.” She nods, looking to the next brother. “The one standing over there with a grumpy look is Beelzebub. He’s the sixth oldest and the Avatar of Gluttony.” 

“Lucifer, I’m hungry,” Beel says expectedly. Lucifer shakes his head. 

“That’s too bad. Now, behave yourself.” Beel frowns, putting a hand on his stomach. 

“Oh! Sorry Lucifer, just give me a second.” Rin reaches into a pocket, handing something off to the sixth oldest demon. 

“Beelzebub right? You said you’re hungry, have this. I’m not too hungry myself.” Beel’s face lights up, looking at the offering in her hand.

“Really? Thanks!” He takes the food happily from her, eyeing her hungrily as well. Lucifer made a mental note to make sure Beel didn’t try to eat her behind his back. 

“Mammon will be here shortly. In total there are seven of us. We’re not all here right now. You’ll meet the others later. I expect that you’ll behave. Mammon will show you around once he gets here. I suggest you stick by him just to make sure that you don’t get eaten alive," Lucifer says, ending his introduction to the others. 

"Thank you for that. I guess it's not safe to wander around alone right?" she asks. 

"Lucifer! I'm here! Whaddya want?" Mammon bursts through the door, interrupting the question. He looks from Lucifer to the human standing in front of him. 

"Oh. Is this the new exchange student?" he asks, walking up to Rin. 

"Yes Mammon, it is. This is Rin. You're in charge of her safety for the time she'll be here." Lucifer senses that Mammon ready to complain, shutting him up immediately. "You aren't going to get out of this one that easily. Keep an eye on her."

"Come on! Really?" Mammon complains anyway, earning a death glare from the older demon. 

"If you don't I'll string you up again," he threatens. Lucifer felt a headache coming on from dealing with Mammon already. 

"Just take her home and show her around. I'm not asking much of you. Surely even a scumbag such as yourself can manage something like that?" 

Mammon groans, shut up by Lucifer clearing his throat. He turns to Rin, eyeing her over and then walking out of the room. Rin looks back at the brothers, a confused look on her face. Lucifer sighs, walking over and turning her toward the door. 

"Just follow him around. He'll come around eventually. If he puts you in danger let me know. I'll deal with him immediately." 

"Thank you again! It was nice meeting you all!" She runs out of the room, heels clacking loudly as she tries to find Mammon. 

~~~

"And that's everythin’. Clear now?" Mammon asks, standing at the doorway of her new bedroom. 

She looks around, pleasantly surprised by the room. It was somehow big enough to fit a whole dining room table and her bed was off to the side by some tree growing in the middle of it. There was a bunch of storage space for all of her stuff. It wouldn't be as hard to adjust as she thought it'd be, the wall of leaves and tree reminding her of her little house in the woods. With a bit of time and effort, she could make it more personal and it’d be just like home. The room was even on the dimmer side, making it easier for her since she hated bright lighting.

"Thank you so much Mammon! I'll be sure to stay out of your hair now." He scoffs. 

"Ya better. I don't have time to be lookin' out for some idiot human who can't walk straight," referencing how she almost fell down the stairs as he led her to the room.

"Can you call me by my name please?" she asks. It was getting annoying having to act like she was so far beneath the other demons, but perhaps it'll help her out in the future. 

"Hah? A human asking The Great Mammon for something without giving him something in return? As if!" She bites back the bitter comment on her tongue, willing herself to hold back. 

"Fine. Whatever. Thanks anyway. " She drops the politeness, fully fed up. 

"Geez. Who pissed in your coffee?" Mammon mutters to himself, leaving her room after closing the door. 

Once he left she sticks her tongue out at the wood, pretending it was him she was berating. She sits back on the bed, scowling to herself. The demon brothers seemed nicer, or at least more subdued than the last time she saw them. They must have adapted well to lives as demons then. She was about to lie down, resolving herself to boredom when a knock sounded on the door again. 

“Come in!” The door opens to reveal Beelzebub. 

“I just wanted to thank you again for giving me a snack earlier today.” Their eyes meet and she felt a shock run through her body. Her heart skips a beat as she realises what was happening. No, it couldn’t be, could it? Internally, she wills herself to calm down, steadying her breathing and looking anywhere but at his face. She refused to acknowledge any of this was happening. It wasn’t happening. 

He stares at her, slightly confused at the change on her face. 

“Are you alright?” he asks, stepping closer to check on her. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She brings a hand up to her forehead, leaning against her bed. His scent begins to fill her mind, making her dizzy.

“Just a minor headache. Don’t worry about it. And you’re welcome. You’re the Avatar of Gluttony right? I’m sure the hunger gets unbearable,” she finally manages. 

_ “You don’t even know the fucker and you’re already behaving like this?”  _ she asked herself. 

_ “Just give it some time. Maybe it’s just your heat acting up. From what I remember he just looks a lot like him. Maybe you’re just confusing him for Kai. It’s fine,”  _ she rationalises, talking herself out of it. Yeah, it’s fine. She was just confusing him for Kai. It would be perfectly fine.

“Yeah, it does.” The silence overtakes the two as neither of them had anything to say.

“I guess I’ll see you around?” he said, unsure of how to continue. She nods. 

“Yeah. Thanks for not eating me.” He frowns a little at her comment. 

“I don’t think I’m allowed to eat you and I really want to.” 

“Oh.” They sit awkwardly before he shuffles out of the room. 

“At least I got that out of the way,” she says quietly, ignoring the need that was beginning to run through her body. 

Digging through her suitcase she smiles triumphantly as she digs out a small vial of more pills. The others were effective enough that she wouldn’t have to take them again and these were basically just hormones that prevented her heats from even starting in the first place. She laughs to herself as she remembers her ex’s comments on it when he recognised it as something he had to use in the lab. He called them anti-horny tablets and when looking at the dosage he almost passed out in shock before handing them back off to her. 

She takes the medication, feeling her body relax. There was some time before she had to go meet the others for dinner when the door slammed open. 

“Holy shit what the fuck?!” she yells, looking up to see Leviathan. He hadn’t introduced himself to her yet but she remembered his eyes well. 

“You’re the exchange student right?” he asks excitedly. 

“What? Do I LOOK like one of your brothers?” she retorts, the medication disrupting her normal brain to mouth filter. 

“Lucifer said you’re from Japan. Is that true?” She nods, barely able to respond before he yanks her into his room. 

She took in the room quietly, awed at how gorgeous it was. The entire thing looked like it was underwater, deep blues, purples and greens dying the walls. A giant fish tank sat in the back of it, holding a comically small goldfish in it. It made her laugh a bit as she walked over to the little thing. The tank was decked out incredibly, having everything a school of fish would need but it only hosted the little goldfish. She waves at it, turning to take in the rest of the room.

A gaming PC was set up next to the tank, various consoles set up and plugged into a giant television. Beside that was a giant shelf of various manga and anime. She recognised some of the bigger titles and saw that some were written in one of the demon languages. Lots of little figures sat in their boxes on the shelves on display and she inspected them all, adoring the little trinkets. There was something soothing about this room and she made a mental note to see if she could befriend Leviathan just to crash the room more often. The tub with a blanket and pillow confused her, but she decides to ignore it, stepping over some questionable looking magazines he threw onto the ground. 

“If you’re from Japan then that means you know these titles right? They’re big in the human realm aren’t they?” He practically runs back to her, thrusting several volumes of manga protected in sleeves at her. She skims over the titles, the kanji swimming in her eyes as she fails to focus on them properly. A couple of them stand out to her, ones she read before. 

“I-yeah I know them. I like manga too. Do you?” The look of offence on his face makes her think she pissed him off when he opened his mouth again to speak. 

“I, Leviathan, Avatar of Envy, am not just some CASUAL fan of anime and manga. I-” She shushes him, his yelling making her head hurt. 

“Yeah, I get it I get it. Look, my human body isn’t like yours. I just took some medication. I need to go sleep for a bit for it to take effect. I’ll come and talk to you about anime and manga later I promise.” 

He ignores her, talking on and on about someone named Ruri-chan and a naked Mammon who owed him money.

“And that’s where you come in. I need you to make a pact with him,” he finishes. This piques her interest. A pact?

“You want me to sign a pact with Mammon?” Her mind clears up a bit, blinking up at him. He seemed to stutter a bit at her action, looking away. 

“I-Y-yeah I need you to sign a pact with him. That way you can get back the money I lent him and so you can save Ruri-chan from him! I have an idea too-he’ll be willing to sign a pact if you can give him something he can’t refuse. His credit card. Lucifer took it and kept it from him and now he has no idea where it is. And stop looking at me like that!” Rin shakes her head, trying to clear her mind up more. 

“Sorry. I told you, the medication. You sure? If I can get the credit card I can sign a pact with him?” Without thinking she grabs his hands in hers, grinning widely. “Serious?!” He pushes her back lightly, covering his face. 

“Y-yeah you can! Do you even understand the implications of a pact human? It means you can bend him to your will, wherever, whenever. It’s a big responsibility and even if you get him to sign it I can’t promise you you can control him.” She waves away his concern, making him even more alarmed. 

“I know enough about pacts. You seriously think I would come down to the Devildom without reading up on Demonology?” She wasn’t lying when she said it. Before heading down here she found some of another ex’s notes on demons and read over the systematic texts, making a mental note of everything she forgot about. 

“Then you aren’t as dumb as you look. Tomorrow, try to ask Lucifer about where the card is. Once you get that information then report back to me, got it human?” She nods excitedly, standing up and bouncing happily. 

“Wait, if I can sign a pact with him, that means I can sign a pact with all of you right?” His face scrunches up at her question, seeming not pleased with it. 

“Theoretically, I guess you could but no average human could pull off something as complex as that.” 

_ “Good thing I’m not human then,”  _ she thinks to herself. 

The idea had never even occurred to her. What  _ was  _ stopping her from signing pacts with all Seven Rulers from Hell? Nothing except for her own willpower. If she could tame all seven of them then she’d really be able to do whatever she wanted. She’d never have to worry about her safety ever again. And it could shape up to be a nice little bit of revenge.

“Alright then Captain Leviathan! I’ll do my best to carry out your mission!” She mockingly salutes him, laughing at his response before heading back to her own bedroom without letting him say anything else.

Seven demons. Seven pacts. It’d be manageable enough. 

Probably. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking of doing weekly updates - the fic is all finished already so no need to worry about a surprise hiatus! Thanks to anybody reading this; I hope you enjoy <3


	3. An Old Man's Jokes

* * *

_ I’m sorry I couldn’t say no. _

* * *

I was half asleep in my bedroom, already over the initial scare of waking up somewhere I didn’t recognise. Slowly, I felt myself drifting back to dreamland when a sharp knock sounds at the door, Mammon’s voice behind it yelling at me. 

“Get up! We hafta go to class! If you’re late Lucifer’s gonna kill me!” As soon as he finishes speaking I hear him leave. So much for keeping an eye on me. 

Getting up I stretched myself out, yawning loudly and locating the neatly folded uniform one of the brothers had dropped off for me last night. Strangely enough, even though I was able to meet all of them at dinner last night, Belphegor seemed to be missing. None of the brothers brought it up or mentioned it. If I remembered correctly Belphegor and Beelzebub were twins, but even Beelzebub didn’t say anything. If I pried I’d probably get in trouble so I’d have to play dumb until one of them said something. 

The uniform for the academy was different from uniforms I saw up in the human realm. It was made of seemingly luxurious fabric and leathers, several parts making up the whole. The other layer consisted of a black double-breasted jacket dress over a dress shirt, thankfully belted at the waist to at least let me have a little bit of shape. Without it, the military-style cut would probably make me look like a rectangle. For me, I was able to request the bottoms go into a skirt, the ends of it going a little more outwards than the standard trench. A tie and red cloak thing that came down to half of my back finished off the full uniform and it didn’t look like we had standardised shoes. 

I manage to put it on, satisfied by the colours I chose. A white dress shirt under a primarily off-black jacket with red accents and a red tie. Because of the pact mark on my thigh from a different demon, I tended to wear fully opaque tights, choosing black ones to blend in better with the uniform. Black heeled boots finished it off and I decide I like this uniform a lot. It didn’t make me feel like I was going to class, more like I was going to an important military function. The cloak was a little bit of a struggle to put on by myself but with a little bit of magic, the red fabric was finally fastened. Putting my hair up in a ponytail I was fully finished, running downstairs to grab a quick bite before running off to campus.

~~~

R.A.D looked like something out of a gothic catalogue, the entire building made of a mix of white stone and marble. The giant campus sprawled over a giant mass of land, similar to a giant human university campus. It was beautiful in every sense. The architects and artists must have worked their butts off to make something this magnificent. The lights were all from bunches of candles, making me wonder why they didn’t just use electricity but it made everything look kind of ominous. Fitting, considering we’re in Hell. 

“Look, isn’t that the new human?” a voice from behind me said. 

“Yeah, isn’t that the one that’s made Mammon a babysitter? That’s what everyone’s saying,” a different voice responded. 

“He isn’t here right now, don’t you think it’s the perfect opportunity to strike?” the first voice says. “Let’s eat her before Beel gets a chance to! It’s not often that a human just comes wandering into the palm of our hands.” 

I was very much so tempted to turn around and tell them off but had to resist the urge, continuing forward when another voice grabbed my attention. 

“Hey, you there!” I turn around, meeting the gaze of a pale young man with white hair, making him look even paler. Funny. 

“That’s right, you, the human with the look that says “I don’t care if you eat me right now”. You know demons will take that as an invitation right?” he continues, walking closer to me. “You’re Rin, right? I saw that you dropped this D.D.D.” He hands the device over to me. 

“Oh, thank you.” I take it out of his hand and try to leave again, hearing a sound of disapproval. 

“You won’t even let me introduce myself? I’m not one of those demons you need to look out for. My name’s Solomon, and I’m the other human you’re here with. It’s nice to meet you, even if you look about ready to run away from me.” He extends a hand to me, most likely looking for a handshake. I take it, firmly shaking it. 

“Charmed. I’m sure you have more important things to be doing so I’ll leave you to it,” I said, again attempting to leave. He laughs a little. 

“My, you really are an interesting human. I’ll be taking my leave then.” 

Almost reaching the first class of the day I spot Lucifer in the hallway. When he noticed me he walked over, ever so prim and proper. I snicker a bit internally, finding it a little funny that a creature who defied God was still so…formal. 

“Hello Rin, I hope your morning is going well,” he starts, crossing his arms.

“Good morning Lucifer. It’s going as well as it can-I haven’t exactly been in school for a while.”

“That’s good to hear. You seem less tired today. Levi told me that you had to take medication last night. Are you a human that’s chronically ill? If there’s any accommodation you need I’d rather you tell me sooner than later,” he says and I wonder if this concern was just for show. 

“It’s fine. It’s something I only need to take when I feel symptoms flaring up. And yeah, I managed to sleep so I’m a little less tired than usual. Thanks for asking.” Leviathan’s words played again in my head. He mentioned that Lucifer took Mammon’s card, so Lucifer would have to know where it was, right?

“Hey, quick question and I’m not someone to beat around the bush as humans say. Mammon was complaining about not having his credit card. I was wondering if you knew why it’s missing or why he doesn’t have it.” I sigh. 

“He’s a little annoying complaining about it and it’s messing with my head. Hard to focus, you know?” 

“Well, one thing you need to understand is that he’s pure scum. The scummiest sort that could ever exist. No sort of demon could ever compare to the kind of scum that he is. It’s embarrassing to have to call him a fellow demon, nevermind my brother. Because of that and his affinity for money and spending it in any form he has I’ve had to take a bit of liberty and, shall we say, keep a bit of his cash flow frozen,” Lucifer responds, smiling coldly.

My heart hurt a little for Mammon. As a fellow demon with a crow as a patron animal I understood the urge he must have felt (to a very much so lesser extent) and to hear Lucifer talk so lowly of him was just…mean. Mammon seemed trustworthy when I knew him last, even if he was a little distracted. 

A bell rang, grabbing both of our attention.

“Well, that’s the bell. I guess we should head to class then. Good luck in class Rin.” I bow to him slightly, watching his back retreat. 

~~~

My phone lights up with a text from Leviathan, telling me to meet him in the kitchen. I wasn’t going to be getting any sleep anyway so I head downstairs. A faint light illuminates the stone kitchen, a hulking figure buried in the fridge. The biggest of the seven brothers was Beelzebub, so I guess it was him. I plan to leave the room, afraid that my body would act up again if he saw me but he suddenly stands up, narrowing amethyst eyes at me. 

“What? You’re just going to ignore me?” he asks, seeming annoyed. 

_ “Yeesh. Maybe I just misunderstood-I do not need this kind of passive aggression in my life.”  _ Feeling reassured by this thought I cross my arms, leaning up against the wall. 

“I was just going to let you do whatever you’re doing. Didn’t really want to interrupt your little fridge raid.”

“Why are you here anyway? Don’t humans need more sleep than demons?” he questions, looking at me curiously. 

“Just a little hungry,” I lie.

“Ah. That makes two of us then. Oh, I emptied out the fridge though. You brought human food, right? It was tasty,” he says, grinning. 

Fuck. He has a cute smile. 

“Oh…” Well, that sucked. I was actually going to eat some of it. I should probably keep more things in my room if this is how fast he could clean them out. I feel my nose tingle and I frown at myself. 

“Don’t you dare start fucking crying after that. He didn’t know you idiot,” I mutter to myself. 

“What? Did you say something?” Beelzebub asks. I shake my head, going to stand against a counter. 

“No, just talking to myself. Anyways, I do have a question for you. Uhm, I was under the impression that there were seven sins. Where’s the seventh one?” My initial reservation left me, more curious than worried about the consequences. 

His face falls, resembling a kicked puppy. Now I feel bad about asking, putting my hands out in front of me.

“No, no it’s fine. If something happened to him you don’t have to tell me I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s not that.  **Never** bring him up in front of Lucifer. I don’t understand why but we can’t talk about him. I won’t be telling you anything either. I don’t want Lucifer to get mad at me. He’s our brother but we have to pretend he doesn’t exist…I don’t understand.” His face hardens as he made his way past me, turning to say only one more thing. 

“It’s none of your business human. I’m leaving. There’s nothing left in the fridge anyways.” He walks out of the kitchen, muttering to himself about a poisoned apple in Lucifer’s study. 

“Psst, hey human! Over here!” I follow the sound of the voice, finding Leviathan hidden behind the wall. 

“I-what?” I stare at him in confusion, making him groan, irritated. 

“Listen, Beel was just here. I can’t let him know I’m hanging out with you!” I roll my eyes. He ignores me, continuing. 

“Lucifer said he froze something right? He definitely said that?” I nod. 

“Yeah, why?” We were in the kitchen and it dawned on me. “No way, he’s THAT much of a dweeb?” I ask him. 

Leviathan begins to rifle through the fridge, muttering stuff under his breath as he pulls things out of the fridge, finally landing on a giant chunk of ice with a credit card in the middle of it. The two stared at the object in Leviathan’s hands at a total loss for words. 

“He…froze his credit card,” I said in total astonishment. “That’s fucking hilarious!” 

“I guess I’ll try to defrost it now. Let’s see here.” He goes over to the microwave when Mammon walks in, eyes zeroing in his credit card in the microwave. 

“Woah woah woah what are you two doing? Levi, get my beloved Goldie out of the microwave before it demagnetizes her!” Leviathan turns it off, waving the card in front of Mammon’s face. 

“You want this back right?” he taunts. 

“You better give it back Levi-I mean, yes please Leviathan sir,” Mammon says, dangerously close to bowing to his younger brother. I watch the scene with mild amusement, Leviathan continuing to mock Mammon.

“I’ll give you the card on one condition. Make a pact with the human.” Mammon looks at me, disbelief all over his face. 

“Ya aren’t gonna say anythin’? You’re fine with this? C’mon Levi, ya want me to make a pact for ya to return somethin’ that belongs to me?” He tries to weasel his way out of it, and I feel bad but my want to make the pact overpowers my empathy for him. He didn’t do anything that warranted my care for him yet anyway.

“Make a pact with me Mammon. You’ll get your card back, I promise,” I said, trying to get him to agree. 

“No way! Nuh-uh! You are not going to get the Great Mammon, Avatar of Greed, second oldest of the brothers, one of the seven rulers of Hell to make a pact with some  _ lowly  _ human.” I was about to open my mouth to retort back when Leviathan begins to yell. 

“Lucifer! Mammon’s found his credit card!” He smirks at his older brother, waiting to see how Mammon would respond. 

“Alright, alright, I got it I got it! I’ll make a pact with ya, I’d love to make a pact with ya! Come on human, ya wanted this right?” He grabs my shoulders, staring me down. 

I feel a tinge of magic fill the air as the smell of burning flesh wafts around. The pact locks into place, our magic intertwining as Mammon’s eyes widen, staring at me with shock. He opens his mouth to speak when I stop him, pulling him away from Leviathan and dragging him upstairs.

“What the hell was that?” he yells at me once we get back into my bedroom. I put a finger up to his lips, listening carefully for footsteps outside. 

“You have a lot of questions to answer human,” he growls, holding my wrist. 

“Mammon, quiet,” I demand, forcing him silent via the pact. Once satisfied with the lack of people outside I turned back to him. 

“Okay, listen. I’m not as human as your brothers seem to think I am. I’m just really good at magic and host a lot of magic potential, okay?”

“You’re lyin’ to me. I know what that felt like and it did not feel like a normal pact,” Mammon says, still glaring me down. I go over to my jewellery box, pulling out a pendant that Klaus made for me. 

“Here. This is my proof for you. This was something a close companion of mine made.” I was a master of manipulating the truth. So far, nothing I said was a lie. It’s true that I’m good at magic and that Klaus was a good friend of mine. More than that as well. 

“It’s a magical pendant. The energy in here is my own magic. I’ve been practising magic in different ways for at least a few years now. Your essence might just…not have liked that at all.” I watch his expression carefully, hoping he wouldn’t be able to see past my light cover. 

“Look, Lucifer said something in passing about how you’re barely passing all your classes right? I can help you with practical magic applications or practising spells or making potions or whatever. I don’t want your brothers finding out unless they have to. I don’t need them knowing how good I actually am at magic. It’s just something I like to keep to myself.” He still eyes me warily, obviously not wanting to just let this go. 

“Mammon, if you push me far enough I’ll have to use our pact to keep you silent. I want to be able to trust you alright? Come on.” I look deep into his eyes, trying to see if I could determine how much danger I was in. 

He scoffs, looking away from me and getting up. 

“Both Lucifer and Lord Diavolo told us you’re a human. I won’t pry because it’s nothin’ important to me. I’ll take your explanation at face value. However,” his face got abnormally serious, an oddity I could see even from the short time I was here. It was reminding me why he was the second most powerful brother. 

“If ya do anythin’ to hurt my brothers I’ll kill ya, pact or not. Demons like me can break pacts if we try hard enough, ya got that?” I nodded. 

“Got it. Thank you. Just, please keep it from them all. I won’t use the pact as a show of trust in you alright?” He shakes his head. 

“Trustin’ a demon? Even my brothers don’t trust me and here ya are, tryin’ to tell me that you trust me?” Despite his words, he seems a little happy at the prospect, a smile teasing at his lips. “Fine. I won’t say nothin’. If ya don’t do anythin’ that makes me hafta tell. Understood?” 

“I understand, oh Great Mammon.” He grins at the title. 

“Good little human.” He ruffles my hair before leaving. “I’m gonna go hit up a casino. Don’t call me.” I straighten out my hair, closing the door after he leaves. 

The medication must have worked well. He was only able to sense my magic for a brief amount of time but he was sharp enough to be able to tell that the magic was different than it should have been. Hopefully, he’d forget with time and just confuse the sensation with just his own magic rather than just the pact reacting to another demon’s powers. I take another one, just in case. 

Immediately, I felt my magical power weaken even more, the normal heat within my body dying down a bit. I shiver, pulling my blanket over my shoulders as I wait for my human heating system to kick in. At this rate, I’d have to fully dull my magic in order to sign more of the pacts without having another scare like that happening again. 

~~~

I sit down at the breakfast table, listening to the brothers talk as they eat their morning meal. Last night, Leviathan told me to force Mammon to give back his figure or whatever, whooping in joy when I used the pact to force the second born to retrieve it. I was then promptly shoved out of the room so that Leviathan could “check her for wounds”, whatever that meant.

The cutlery in my hand plays around with my food. I still hadn’t really gotten used to talking to them all or joining their conversations so I stay silent, picking lightly at my plate. It’d take some time to get used to the…challenging cuisine again. It didn’t taste bad, it was just the mental thought of what I was eating. 

“I still can’t believe you managed to sign a pact with Mammon that quickly!” Asmodeus said, finished talking to Satan. The two were discussing the events of last night, laughing over Mammon’s inability to refuse his credit card. 

“Wow, they really knew what they were doing when they sent you down here!” he adds, a bright grin on his face.

“Yeah I guess they did,” I reply, looking down at my food. 

“Are you good at magic?” Asmodeus asks suddenly. 

“I-yeah I know a little bit at least,” I stutter. 

“Then maybe controlling Mammon’s pact will be easier than you initially thought!” Satan nods in agreement with Asmodeus’ statement. 

“Honestly, we aren’t upset that you managed to do it. We’re impressed if anything. I still can’t believe that it happened.” I shrug my shoulders at Satan’s compliment, passing my plate off to Beel without a word. I’d grab something to eat at school. 

“Yeah, I guess you aren’t wrong. It must be hard trying to get you seven into pacts,” I say.

Their questions were starting to make me uncomfortable and I realised I still didn’t have the stomach to sit around so many of them at once. I thought that with the time that had passed I would have gotten better but apparently not. 

“Which one of us do you think you’d want to try your hand at next?” Asmodeus asks, resting his chin in his palms. I look at them all, beginning to evaluate the brothers in my head. 

Mammon was a lot smarter than they gave him credit for and I knew that he was a fast demon as well. I remembered overhearing the way he managed to convince Lord Diavolo into doing something when the seven had just fallen and Lucifer was still in pain. If I was going to consider him the brains of an operation, then the next thing I’d want would be brawn, and just having myself wouldn’t be adequate.

“Beelzebub,” I say, standing up from the table. The demon in question shakes his head, an annoyed look returning to his face again. He seemed to always look grumpy but I’d chalk that up to his hunger pains. 

“No way. Although, if you promised to give me food every day then maybe I’d consider it,” he replies, eating the food on my plate happily. He looked kinda cute, like a little kid, the grin on his face brightening up the room just the slightest bit. 

“Listen Rin, don’t think it’ll be that easy to get the rest of us under your control, as cute as you are! Don’t you lump us in with that idiot of a demon Mammon,” Asmodeus starts.

“We won’t be so easily pulled into pacts with you.” 

Mammon strides into the room, slapping Asmodeus across the back of his head. This set off another round of insults being thrown and minor arguments as I tuned out. Asmodeus was right though. It’d be hard to try and convince the others, even more so now that they knew one of them was already stuck in a pact with me. 

“Rin? Did you hear any of what I just said?” Lucifer’s voice interrupts my thoughts. 

“Ah? Sorry ‘bout that. Musta blanked.” He raised an eyebrow at me. 

“You seem more distracted than usual. I thought you were more clear-headed than this. No matter, it must be the result of spending too much time with Mammon. I just wanted to congratulate you on managing to forge a pact so quickly after arriving. When Lord Diavolo told me you were a skilled human, I didn’t think he meant it in this sense. I must say I’m quite astonished.” 

“He told you I’m skilled?” I ask.

“Lord Diavolo didn’t indulge in too many details but he said that you’ve got a background in magic. Something about how you’ve been doing it since you were a child. However, he did tell me that your magic wouldn’t be a match to ours so we have nothing to worry about. I am warning you though. If you do anything that I consider acting out, I will report you to Lord Diavolo and have him deal with you,” Lucifer threatens lightly. I nod, thankful that Lucifer didn’t know the extent of my abilities. 

“Thanks for the warning. Mammon already gave me one. If that’s all, I think I’d like to head to class now.” Mammon nodded, pulling me up from the chair. 

“C’mon human, let’s get you to class.” I trail after him quietly, unsure of what to say. 

“I’m just here to tell you this right now-I don’t care what my brothers say. I made this pact to rescue my precious Goldie. You’re nothin’ but a big bag of trouble for me and I’m not here to babysit ya forever. If some demon decides you’re a tasty little morsel let yourself get eaten. Listen carefully alright?” He jabs his finger into my chest, blue-yellow eyes staring at me intensely as he leans in even closer to me. 

“I. Don’t. Care.” Up close I realised just how pretty the demon was. 

His tanned skin was flawless as expected and his features were sharp and masculine and every smirk he threw my way just flustered me. He was tall to boot, but then again, every demon was tall compared to me. His voice was pleasant to listen to, a perfect mix between a lazy drawl and a playful lightness. I wasn’t even into Mammon but I’d be a fool to look at him and say that he was ugly. It was clear that he was made in heaven. All of the demon brothers were gorgeous, really. After years of dating humans, I forgot about how enchanting a demon’s true beauty was. I found my throat drying up as I look away from him, coughing lightly. 

“Yeah, I get it. But say, can this human have a dying wish then?” He stands back up, straightening his back. 

“What makes you think the Great Mammon is gonna be willin’ to fulfill your wish?” 

“Would you please use my name? Getting called human all the time is, ironically enough, pretty dehumanising.” I hope that this way of asking was inoffensive enough for him. 

“Well, would ya look at that? The human does have some manners. Well since ya asked so nicely I guess I’ll hafta say yes-NOT!” He cackles, smirking. 

“Why should I listen to some human’s request? You’re just a little human who stumbled her way into the Devildom-I’m leagues above ya kid.” I frown at his mocking tone. 

He continues on and on, talking about how he’d eat me if I stepped out of line as we continued walking to class, laughing at his own jokes. As I finally reached the end of my rope I stopped, crossing my arms. 

“What? Do I scare ya that much human?” I rocked back on my heels, grinning mischievously. 

“Mammon, stay!” His entire body stiffens as he stares at me, shocked. 

“Oi! Whaddya think you’re doin’!?” 

“Mammon, I hereby command you to use my name!” I order, bouncing excitedly. Controlling a demon was exciting and I understood why humans were so antsy to try and control them now. 

“No! I won’t you hu-hu…yes Rin.” I smile happily, clapping my hands. 

“Thank you Mammon~” I sing, skipping ahead of him. 

“Damn pact, making me listen to some damn human,” he mutters behind me.

“I hope you know I’m still my own boss! Ya ain’t the boss of me!” he yells, catching up to make sure I heard him. 

“I get it, I get it Mammon. Don’t worry; I’m not going to be an asshole with our pact. I imagine it sucks being at the whole mercy of someone you don’t care about or respect. So!” I put my hands on my hips, turning back to face him. 

“I’m gonna make sure you like me! By the time this program is done you’re gonna want me to stay here and be practically beggin’ me not to leave ya hear?” He smiles, responding positively to my playful offer. 

“Fine! What do I get if I don’t miss ya? As if I would.” A cocky smile sat on his lips, awaiting my counteroffer. 

“A shoppin’ spree on my card up in the human realm! And if I win then ya can’t keep bullyin’ me and you have to help me out. Deal?” I stick my hand out, waiting for him to take it. 

“Deal!” He shakes it hard. I had a feeling that we’d be getting along a lot better than we initially thought. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY I CANT COUNT im so sorry mammon you deserve better


	4. Nightmare

* * *

_Will I spend eternity chasing after your footsteps?_

* * *

**TW/CW// mention of dubcon/dubious consent at the beginning, descriptions of a panic attack**

_I felt hands all over me, a weight pressing onto my chest and torso._

_It hurt, something hurt but I couldn’t tell what._

_They didn’t mean to hurt me, I could tell, They didn’t want to but they couldn’t help it._

_Their body heat came into me, something I welcomed. I needed it._

_I craved it._

_I felt loved, I was loved. This was right-_ **_he_ ** _was right._

_Or him?_

_Maybe him?_

_There were so, so many. Too many. It felt suffocating-_

_It’s too much I need to stop._

_It burns, he burns, they burn_

_I need to stop Ineedto-_

**(dubcon end)**

I sit up in the bed, listening to the wind howl around outside of the house. The only light in my room came from a candle that Asmodeus brought me the other day By now I’d been here for a couple of weeks so I got used to the strange surroundings but it still wasn’t as comfortable as my own home. At least I was used to walking around the room in the dim light, lighting a couple more candles to add a bit more light to the dark room. 

My stomach feeels woozy and I get up, filling a cup with water from the bathroom and splashing it on my face. I turn the light on afterwards, eyes straining against the bright white of the fluorescent light. The woman in the mirror looks back at me, skin slightly green and eyes seeming even duller than usual. 

It had been a long time since I had that nightmare. Maybe being surrounded by the scent of the brothers was triggering old memories. I yawn, tired from the restless sleep. I try to shake it off, deciding to head to the kitchen to maybe get something to eat. It might help settle my stomach. 

“Oh. You’re back.” Beelzebub was back in the kitchen, raiding the fridge again. I nod, eyeing the pile of food in his arms. 

“I know you’re hungry but you think you can pass off some food for me? My stomach won’t calm down.” He seems torn, not wanting to give me anything. 

“Actually, it’s fine. I’ll just drink some water.” For the second time, I fill a glass with water, drinking it down slowly to avoid further agitating the churning organ. 

“Here.” He passes me something small, some sort of sweet. “You can have this.” I take it from him, smiling lightly. 

“Thanks Beelzebub.” I hopped onto a counter, taking a small bite and swinging my legs. “Sorry for interrupting your nightly raid.” He shook his head, eyes glowing in the dim light of the fridge. 

“S’fine. I get it. Being hungry at night and unable to wait. But that’s not what happened to you right?” His head tilts slightly as he waits for my response. 

“Smart. You’re right. It’s not. I just had a bit of a nightmare. I’m waiting until my brain calms down enough to go back to bed.” Beelzebub nods. 

“Demons are a little sensitive to things like that. Shifts in your emotion, I mean. I’ve always been more sensitive than my brothers. I don’t mind you joining me occasionally. Just don’t eat everything.” I laugh at the irony in his statement.

“I won’t. Thank you Beelzebub.” He grunts in response, taking his pile of food with him. 

I head back to my room, about to close the door when I hear a weird sound. I turn back around, following it until I find myself at the end of a staircase leading upstairs to a dark hallway thing. I was in some back hall of the house, the stone walls cold and perfectly barren. Only a bit of light could seep in through a small window higher up on the wall. None of the brothers had shown me this part of the house before. 

The sound seems to be coming from the top of the staircase. Strange. I was about to head up when I feel a hand on my shoulder pulling me back. 

“Rin. Funny seeing you here. Are you trying to head upstairs?” Lucifer forces me to turn around, yanking me from the stairs. 

“I suppose I didn’t tell you but nobody is to head up there except for **me.** If you feel that you are restless let me know, I can brew you some tea. However, I do have to warn you. It’s a very effective tea. Some humans **never wake up** after drinking it. I’m not past giving you some if you’re having difficulty sleeping,” he growls, voice low in his throat. 

Something felt off about him. He was being too protective of the stairs. I was supposed to be protected by Diavolo. It made no sense for him to threaten me so openly about just going up a staircase. Something was there. Something important. If I managed to figure out what it was maybe I could use it as leverage against Lucifer. Making a pact with him would be difficult and this might just have been the key I needed. 

“Alright, I get it Mr. Secrets. I’ll leave it alone.” _For now._

~~~

I tried to go to wherever the staircase led to again the next night but Lucifer stood there blocking me out again. There was no way I could get up there myself and attempting to charm him would create more questions than I was willing to answer right now. I had to do something to make Lucifer go away.

After deciding that I needed to do something about Lucifer I cornered Mammon in the hallway, attempting to interrogate him about how to distract Lucifer. He didn’t seem to want to talk, running away at first before I used the pact to make him come back. Even after that, he was refusing to relent, moving from talking about how annoying he found the others to be to now berating me. 

“So you aren’t willing to tell me? Nothing at all Mammon?” He shakes his head, crossing his arms. 

“If I piss off Lucifer there’s no tellin’ what he’ll do! I don’t need him gettin’ on my ass again,” he says.

“I’d tell ya if ya were able to pay me a couple billion human dollars. I’m guessing ya don’t have that kinda money so take a guess what I’m about to say!” he leers. “I’m not tellin’ ya. You’ve got nothin’ for me.” I lean on a railing, crossing my arms and smirking. 

“Ohhh, I get it now. You’re afraid, aren’t you? Big ol’ Luci boy too scary for you? Mammon’s scared of Lucifer huh?” At this, he begins to scowl angrily, opening his mouth to talk. I put my hand out in front of him, stopping his words. 

“That’s fine, I can ask someone else. Satan might be willing to help me out.” Mammon grabs my wrist as I begin to walk away, pulling me and accidentally yanking me into his chest. He shoves me out in front of him, flushed face stuttering as he yells at me.

“Okay, listen. Levi has a copy of this disc thing that Lucifer likes. It’s somethin’ from the soundtrack of that series he’s obsessed with. I dunno why Lucifer wants it but if we can get that from Levi, we’ll be in the clear alright? Lucifer will be too busy listening to that disk to get in your way and then ya can satisfy your little human curiosity. Sound like a plan?” I nod eagerly. 

“How do we get in there then? I’ve only been in Leviathan’s room once but when that happened he dragged me in there himself.” I was ready to use my knowledge of Japanese to my advantage, wondering if pretending I was a cat-girl maid would make him let me in. 

“I dunno myself. Levi doesn’t let people into his room very often.” As soon as the words left his mouth Solomon appeared, coming up the stairs and waving at us. He goes over to Levi’s room and knocks on the door, standing back as Leviathan proceeds to ask him about some secret password. 

We watch as Solomon answers Levi’s question, the two alternating before Leviathan “authenticating” the phrase, letting the white-haired sorcerer into his room. Mammon and I stared at each other, processing the scene we just watched unfold.

“Try that! Ya can copy Solomon cantcha? Dontcha remember what he said?” I shake my head. 

“Sorry Mammon. I’ve got an awful memory. Can barely remember what I ate in the mornin’.” We both lean against the stair railing, deep in thought as we try to figure out what our next plan of action when I snap my fingers, popping into Mammon’s line of sight.

“I’ve got a better plan. What do you think about me betting him into a pact?” I suggest.

“How do ya think you’re gonna manage that?” Mammon asks, raising an eyebrow. “The others are all lookin’ out for themselves now that they know you have a pact with me an’ I doubt you’ll be able to easily trick Levi into one. Ya don’t get anythin’ ta use as collateral do ya?”

We fall back into silence as I mull his words over in my mind, biting on my bottom lip as I try to figure out what to do. Leviathan was painfully shy and I’d learned that fairly quickly. He never tried to talk to me ever again after we first met. In fact, all he did was run if he wasn’t in the presence of the others but even then you could tell that he would much rather be sat at home. The only thing he was willing to talk about was that show, The Seven Lords or whatever. He was utterly obsessed with the thing and the lightbulb went off in my head again. 

“Mammon! What if I challenge Leviathan to a trivia battle or somethin’ about TSL? I’ll make my prize be a pact with him! If I win against Leviathan and he thinks I’m a bigger fan of TSL then I’m sure that I can get him to sign a pact with me right and he can’t complain! An’ once that happens, I can force him into anythin’, right? So then I can make him give me the disk AND I get another pact. Double whammy!” I grinned at Mammon and he nodded in agreement. 

“Signin’ another pact and getting Lucifer out of your hair? Looks like my little human has been meetin’ with Lady Luck recently huh? If you manage this then you owe me a shopping spree!” I roll my eyes at his words, poking his chest roughly.

“Mammon, I’m basically doin’ all the work,” I point out, making him scoff. 

“If you didn’t have my moral support I doubt this would work out,” he says, crossing his arms and pouting like a child. I laugh at it, relenting. 

“Fine. You get one hour. I’ll pay.” He pumps his fist happily, dragging me to my room to begin the preparations.

~~~

Later that evening I had everything set up. Beelzebub insisted on joining because of popcorn so I made him a personal serving as I usually did when I made food for the three of us. popping in the discs to the T.V in my room. Mammon was sitting on my bed with Beelzebub and I sat on the floor braced against the mattress, not wanting to get too distracted and accidentally fall asleep. All things aside, it was fun to be able to hang out with them like this.

The two were spending more time in my room now, Mammon at first out of obligation since Lucifer was very serious about tying him up and Beelzebub because he thought I’d give him more food. I guess I sorta set up that precedent when I fed him the first time I met him. It didn’t bother me too much though-he was nice to me and despite really wanting to try and eat me, he didn’t try to at all. 

I managed to play at Leviathan’s pride of being a know-it-all TSL fan, getting him to agree to the competition between the two of us after Mammon and I finished talking this morning. He seemed incredibly confident and didn’t seem to mind me asking about a pact as my prize. He probably thought that I wouldn’t be able to win, but I was very sure that I’d be able to if I worked hard enough.

“Are ya gonna be able to remember everythin’ Rin? Ya couldn’t even remember something Solomon said to Levi two seconds after he said it, remember?” Mammon asks, slight concern in his voice. “It’ll be a waste a’ time if ya can’t.” 

“I’m really focusing. I’ll try my best to remember everything. Don’t worry about it. Beelzebub, you trust me right?” He nods, and I leaned back into the bed, taking in the scenes on the television. 

So much was happening but I could see why Leviathan was so caught up in the series. It was pretty interesting. I wrote down the major important events, sprawling the paper onto the table and committing everything to memory. 

“Wow, you’re really trying hard aren’t you?” Beelzebub asks, walking up from behind me. I jump a bit at the sound of his voice.

“Yeah, I am. I don’t want Mammon to have helped me so much and then have it all go to waste,” I replied. Beelzebub looks over the notes, nodding at the pieces that he seemed to recognise. 

“I wanted to ask if you slept well recently.” He turns back to me, giving me his full attention. 

“Oh…it’s been alright.” I didn’t want to make him worry about me so I decided not to tell him about the voice that kept asking me to help them every night. 

It began recently, a bunch of pleas to come rescue it slipping through the ceiling at night, making me anxious as I tried to sleep. Honestly, I was half considering asking if Mammon could go check it out from me, but since it came from upstairs it must have had something to do with Lucifer’s secret there and I didn’t want to get Mammon into bigger trouble. For now, it just meant I’d have to work fast and deal with it while I put this plan into motion. 

“I don’t normally sleep very well though, so don’t overthink it too much,” I say, offering Beelzebub a smile to try and reassure him. 

“I’m glad,” he replies, patting my head. 

We fall back into silence, something that happened a lot with the two of us. Either we’d stay quiet or I’d just talk and talk and he’d just sit there and listen. I felt bad that he had to deal with it but something about the look on his face made it seem like he didn’t mind too much.

“Uhm, thanks for checking in on me though Beelzebub. The others still don’t talk to me a lot. I appreciate it.” I keep my voice soft, unsure as to how he’ll receive the thanks and he nods, the same stoic face I was getting used to on him looking away from me as he hears Mammon approach. 

“Well well, would ya look at that? Rin! You’re totally gonna win tomorrow! Look at this!” Mammon cheered, pointing at the paper excitedly. “I didn’t think you were gonna take it this seriously.” 

“Well, you’re helping me out so I don’t want that effort to go to waste. I’m going to take the advice I was given and go hunt down a trump card though. I’ll go talk to Simeon and see what he has to say and then we’ll be all ready to win tomorrow!!” I cheer. Beelzebub and Satan recommended I do that and they were right. Anything that could guarantee my victory would be great. I didn’t want this to fail at all. I will get that pact, no matter what happens. 

~~~

After Rin left her room to go talk to Simeon, Mammon got up from his seated position on her bed, beginning to rifle through her things. Beelzebub watched with mild interest as his brother dug through all of her stuff. 

“You’ve been spending a lot of time here recently,” Beel comments, resting his head on his hand. 

“So what? You’re here all the time too Beel, don’t make it out to seem like something it’s not.” At Mammon’s words, Beel frowns. It was true that they were both here a lot, but Beel couldn’t explain why he was there all the time. For Mammon, it seemed pretty clear to him why his older brother hung around her so much. 

“Why are you looking through her stuff?” he asks. 

“I’m lookin’ for somethin’ to sell. Human goods can catch a pretty big profit down here. Plus, you’ve seen the rings she wears right? They’re all real stones and pretty big catches if ya ask me. She must be loaded up in the human realm. I’m sure she won’t miss anything~” Mammon sings, humming to himself as he continues to look through her drawers. 

“It seems to me like you like her. You like her so much that you’re looking through her stuff to learn more about her,” Beel says, eyes continuing to follow the older demon around the room.

Even as he said that something felt off to him. He didn’t seem to like that statement. It made him a little uncomfortable, like the prospect of Mammon liking Rin was challenging him.

“And if you ask me, she seems to like you too,” he continues. 

Nope. Beel didn’t like that either. 

“Really!?” Mammon turns to face his younger brother, a wide smile on his face. 

“I mean, of course she does! I’m the Great Mammon, second oldest brother, one of the seven rulers of Hell! She’d be an idiot not to fall for someone like me! Ya really think so Beel?” Beel snaps a photo of Mammon’s idiotic grin, sending it to their group chat to tease him. 

“Maybe,” he said, texting the others. “She spends a lot of time with you, and doesn’t seem to talk to the rest of us as much as you.” Although, Beel could also attribute it to the fact that Mammon was in a pact with her and the others weren’t. 

But, by the same token, Beel was beginning to hang around her more as well. Ever since she fed him when they first met he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Most people wouldn’t even bother but here was this human he just met, giving him something to eat just because he made a comment that the others hear far too often. 

Mammon laughs happily at Beel’s comment, the Avatar of Greed muttering something under his breath as he continues. 

He frowns, remembering how many conversations the two had that just…ended in silence. For some reason, Rin seemed to want to avoid him sometimes, being polite but seemingly almost afraid of letting him get to know her. Other times she smiled at him so brightly and acted so happy around him that he had no idea what she was thinking. She was starting to allow him to touch her more often too, calling him a teddy bear once when he gave her a hug without thinking. He hugged her the other day without realising it, wanting to feel the warmth of a body against him that was missing ever since Belphie left and she obliged, simply walking around the halls of campus with him on her back as though he were never there.

He knew that she and Mammon were spending a lot of time together now that Mammon signed a pact with her, and Rin was smiling a lot more compared to when she first got here.. His chest hurt for once instead of his stomach and he hoped that it wasn’t for the reason he was thinking. No matter how scummy he might think his older brother was, Mammon deserved happiness too. He didn’t want to take this away from him. But a selfish part of him told him to fight for her, saying it wouldn’t be fair for him to give up so easily. 

He thinks he wants her too.

~~~

The day of the competition arrives and I was so excited I was practically vibrating in my seat. 

I made sure that I remembered everything, casting a slight spell on myself to retain the info and holding Simeon’s trump card in my mind to use just in case things got hairy. Mammon had quizzed me on some of the stuff earlier this morning, an idiotic grin on his face while we spoke the entire time. I could tell something happened while I left him and Beelzebub alone, but I couldn’t figure out what. No matter; I had more important things to worry about first. 

“So you really think that I’ll lose to you Rin?” Leviathan asks, smirking cockily. “You’re a thousand years too early to challenge someone like me.” I smile back at him, not exactly one to back down from a challenge.

“I’ve worked hard to make sure that I can perform well today Leviathan. I promise you, the results aren’t as set in stone as you think they are.” 

We take our places opposite to each other in the council room Diavolo oh so generously let us borrow for our little event, also acting as our judge. The brothers were all here, curious to see the outcome of the match as well too. I look back to Mammon who shoots me a grin and thumbs up as Asmodeus speaks, hosting the event for us and Satan taking the post of the live commentator to make things a little more interesting. It was almost endearing how much effort was being put into it.

The questions for me were easier as expected. Leviathan’s were absolutely ridiculous, but I suppose if he really was as obsessed with the series as he was it only made sense. If he weren’t a demon there was no way he’d be able to keep all that information in his head but thanks to it, he was. It was honestly impressive how much he knew about the series and I knew that if it weren’t for my trump card there’d be no way I’d win. All we had to do was force Leviathan into a jealous frenzy. Once he fell under the assumption that I was the bigger fan than he was, he should lose his shit just enough for me to win. 

“Hit ‘em with the trump card Rin!” Mammon yelled. I hear our small audience begin to talk amongst themselves as Asmodeus and Satan talk to each other like the perfect MC/Commentator duo. When Asmodeus nods at me approvingly I begin to summarise the next events of TSL, all massive spoilers. How Simeon knew this stuff was beyond me, but it seemed to be working very well.

“No, that’s wrong! There’s no way she’s telling the truth!” Leviathan yells, holding the podium so tightly his knuckles became even paler as the wood cracks under his grip. He looks to Diavolo desperately. Diavolo didn’t need to do anything, standing up as he calms the crowd. 

“Sorry Leviathan. It looks like she’s telling the truth.” Diavolo was known for being able to tell who was lying and was never wrong, making Leviathan even angrier as he hisses loudly, orange blue eyes cutting to me angrily.

“Levi, you know that Lord Diavolo has the power to tell who’s telling the truth or who’s lying,” Lucifer backs up his lord, standing with Diavolo. “It looks to me like this is the truth, thanks to Lord Diavolo’s judgement.” 

“No, no no! This can’t be!” Leviathan screams. 

The air shifts as I can feel him filling it with his magic, a faint light appearing from his slight frame as he begins to turn into his demon form. Logically, I knew that this was what we were aiming for but a sinking feeling in my gut told me I bit off more than I could chew. What if none of the others could stop him? If he tried to attack me would I need to just bear it? I couldn’t fight back, could I? It’d blow my cover. Would I just need to take it lying down then? 

I feel my heart pound in my chest, almost nauseous as the other demon begins to yell and curse at me, the words harsh against my ears and his throat. He seems to have completely lost it, his speech sounding more like hisses and screeching as opposed to actual words. 

**(CW // descriptions of body shifting)**

Coral like horns springs up from his blue hair, attire changing and revealing a scale-like pattern that begins to cover his exposed skin, massive tail whipping around angrily behind him. I could hear it slapping against the marble flooring loudly as his eyes shifted and his jaw began to open more than usual, resembling a serpent’s mouth. His clothes tore as hands became more webbed, nails scratching against the wood of the podium. The marble gave out under the force of his new appendage, cracking as the dust gathers on the black scales. 

(body shifting end)

Fear began to well up inside of me. The last time I saw that-the last time I-no-no. 

**(TW // Panic Attack)**

My brain began to pound against my skull, my heart beating faster and faster. I could feel the air entering my lungs but no, it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough. I feel myself getting lightheaded, bracing myself against the wood of the podium. I can’t think straight, my consciousness was fading. 

_“Rin, Rin. Calm down. Aiya, calm down!”_ I will myself, scrunching my eyes shut. Maybe if I could just block everyone out I could focus better and calm myself down. 

It was just too loud, way too loud. I’ll be okay I just need to focus. Just fucking _breath_ you dumbass!

I did this before, it wasn’t like it was new. Simple. Just breathe in and out. Focus on breathing. Don’t let yourself hyperventilate. Once you start doing that, things go bad and you don’t want that do you? You need to stay calm. It’ll hurt and your brain will short circuit. Not enough oxygen means no brainpower. _Just stay fucking_ **_calm._ **

What’s going on?

The urge to go into my demon form became stronger and stronger as time passed. My wings bumped up uncomfortably against the skin of my back as I willed them to go away, nails beginning to elongate into talons. I ignore the brothers calling my name, thinking that I could hear the slight alarm in their voices. They go to Leviathan first, leaving me alone for a bit. I was glad they would give me a minute to calm down. I’ll be fine. I just need a moment.

Focus, focus. Don’t shift into your demon form. You can’t, not here. 

I feel a little reassured when my wings and talons begin to disappear and go back to normal. I could do this. I was calming down. It’s going to be okay.

You have something to do. You have work to do. You want to figure out what’s at the top of the stairs, don’t you? Something fun’s there, come on Rin. Come on Aiya, you know you need to calm down.

I don’t like this.

I grab at my arms, collapsing against the wood of whatever was in front of me, breath coming in gasps as the pain in my chest becomes unbearable. I lay down on the ground, curling in on myself to try and calm myself down.

I want to go home. 

I don’t want to be here. 

It hurts. 

I need to do something - there’s too much tension in my body. I need to break something-I have to work out this energy. Maybe if I could smash a window or two I’d feel better.

I want to vomit.

There’s nothing in my stomach - you didn’t eat today you were too nervous.

**(CW/TW// Self harm / Panic Attack)**

Something’s tearing, wait why’d it tear? You’re holding yourself whAT’D YOU TEAR

Something’s dripping. 

Where’d this red come from? Why are my fingers so red? Why are my nails so red you painted them black rIN YOU PAINTED THEM BLACK 

Why does my head hurt so much?

Where am I why am I here where am I what 

Why’s it so loud why is my name being called

I don’t know who Rin is anymore 

Who is she I’m not Rin who is she

My arm is wet. 

My thighs are wet

It’s not water 

Why is it so red I don’t understand

Why is it wet why am I wet what is this what is this what

Who’s grabbing me

WHO’S GRABBING ME

WHO’S GRABBING ME WHO IS THIS 

LET GO LETGOLETGOLETGOLETGO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (hi this is one of the chapters im really proud of i hoped you guys enjoyed reading it (if you can read it) as much as i enjoyed writing it!! - if anybody's got any thoughts feel free to leave a comment~)


	5. Good Morning Sleeping Beauty

* * *

_I told you I’d die for you. Why wouldn’t you let me?_

* * *

Leviathan was strictly punished for shifting into his demon form in front of Rin as an act of aggression and trying to attack her. The demon didn’t even seem to mind that much, taking Lucifer’s lecture earnestly as a show that he understood he royally messed up. Lucifer didn’t even want to lecture the poor thing even more. It was clear to him that Levi felt awful about what had happened. 

**(mention of self-harm)**

One of Diavolo’s doctors looked her over as soon as they realised she started hurting herself, skin buried under her fingernails as she sobbed on the floor. The doctor told them she’d be fine and that it seemed to just be a panic attack which was an understandable response in Lucifer’s eyes. Not many humans saw demons on a daily basis so of course such a drastic shift in such a hostile manner would be taken as badly as she did. Still, he didn’t know it could render humans unconscious for so long.

**(mention end)**

Lucifer finds himself in Beel’s room again, looking at the sleeping human. Beel was doing a good job caring for her as he kept replacing her bandages when they needed to be and making sure she ate something by using his magic. Unfortunately, while she was asleep Beel ended up destroying a wall of her room after Mammon ate his custard. They all panicked as soon as they realised what happened, running over to her and seeing if she woke up. Somehow, Rin managed to sleep through the whole debacle, nothing more than a wrinkle in her brow to show that she had an inkling of what happened. Because it was his fault Beel was forced to share his room, sleeping on the floor or his armchair while Rin recovered.

“Oh Lucifer, you’re here again?” Beel asks, walking in behind his older brother. 

“How is she? Has she woken up yet?” Lucifer keeps his eyes trained on her. 

Beel stands next to him, putting his pile of food down on the nightstand before going to brush her hair out of her face. It must have fallen while she shifted around in her sleep.

“Once or twice, but not for long. She groans a bit in her sleep a little but she’s quiet most of the time. When I fix her hair she seems to calm down a bit so I sit next to her and run my fingers through it sometimes when she gets a little too restless,” he responds, sitting next to the bed and demonstrating. Just as he said, she seems to go still, her breathing evening out as he runs his fingers through her hair. 

“Tell me when she gets up. I’ll talk to her about what happened,” Lucifer orders. Beel nods, looking back at her sleeping face. 

~~~

 _“You know you’re okay right?”_ the voice says to me. I stare at the table in front of me. Thankfully, it decided I could take a little bit of a breather after I was busy reliving so many of my nightmares back to back.

“I know. It’s just a little disconcerting to see after so long, you know?” I could feel the voice agreeing with me as I sat back in the chair. 

I hated it here sometimes. It was always way too bright and so sparsely decorated. A small circular table and two white chairs in the middle of a giant space. There weren’t really any walls so it’d be hard to call it a room in all honesty. It just stretched out for miles and miles, never ending and never beginning, almost as though somebody just plopped me onto a giant sheet of paper and told me to make do with it. 

The first time I was here was when I was first born again, the voice that lived here explaining everything that happened. It seemed to be like a deep part of me that knew how to deal with my body and the unconscious part of my subconscious. My subconscious seemed like it was sentient and talking to me so that my conscious body could fix whatever the hell was going on outside so that I could recover faster. It told me things that I needed to know or helped me with my bodily functions when I was refusing to accept them, such as recognising a new mate. Now I usually end up here when my body is recovering from wounds, whether mental or physical. Currently, it was primarily a mental wound and I’d have to patch it up before I could return, Leviathan’s anger triggering my body so badly that I had to leave the physical realm.

It was like purgatory, except some weird, subconscious version of it. Freud would love to poke around in this place. 

“Right, we both know that it won’t be a good idea for me to go back before I get over those demon forms. Even though it’s been forever since I saw them I think that I just need to get over that mental relation between their demon forms and what happened forever ago.”

 _“That’s why we’re desensitizing you right now. You know that it wasn’t them that did it to you right? They weren’t in the right mind.”_ I nod, sighing. 

“I know, I know.”

_“Remember Aiya, you’re stronger than they are. You know every inch of their body. You know their strong and weak points from when they first fell. Not only that, but you have Mammon’s pact on your side. Mammon will protect you. His brothers can’t attack you, as much as they might think they can.”_

“Listen, I understand that logistically but you saw how I broke down there. It’s not good. I have to be stronger.” The voice didn’t seem to be concerned at all, judging by the air around us. 

_“It’s nothing Aiya. It was just your body’s shock at seeing the form take place after so long ago. Pay attention to them - their clothes are totally different from when you first saw them. The only thing that’s the same is their appendages. You won’t need to worry about it again.”_

“I don’t?” I ask in disbelief. I knew that my desensitization efforts in this space were super effective, but I didn’t know it was that effective.

_“You don’t. Think about it like this; you are able to take them on in their demon form. They haven’t been demons as long as you have. You have time on your side. Worst comes to worst, you can just teleport out of there. Not only that but living your nightmares constantly is meant to make you remember that you are stronger than your fears.”_

“Is that code for you’re going to make me realise later that I’m going to be dealing with a crying fit after bottling up my emotions of stress and fear again because I’ve been doing that a lot.” 

_“Not necessarily. That’ll be one response you can have. But I’m telling you that you’ll be fine. Once your body heals up again you won’t have that fear response. Again, you’ve been through this before. Remember, you just need to do something once and then you get over it. Remember Mathias? That first betrayal is what made you stronger and realise that even if you love someone, you need to be ready to kill your mate and you’ve been ready ever since then. This is the same._

_“The brothers don’t mean to hurt you at all, I can tell you that. They’re just emotional. You will be okay. You’ve gotten over the first hurdle of dealing with seeing one of their demon forms for the first time after a long time. Now that you’ve done that, you’ll be fine.”_

“Promise?” The air turns a little uncertain. 

_“Well…you might have a crying fit afterwards, but that’s all that it’ll be! A crying fit.”_ I groan, running a hand over my face. 

“Alright, I’ll take it. Sure beats having a damn panic attack.”

 _“That was on purpose. You needed to get that fear all out at once. You’ve been holding it in since you got here. Now you’re starting at zero, hence why you should be fine from here on out. All your fears and reservations about them hurting you? It’s already happened once now, so you’re ready and prepared. You saw how the others came to your defence and how long Leviathan took to even respond. He didn’t even lay a hand on you.”_ I nod, feeling more and more reassured. 

“I’ve been through this before. It’ll be okay. I’m fine, right?” 

The voice seemed happy, the air cheering up. 

_“I promise you you’ll be stronger against the next time you see another demon form. It’ll be happening soon, I can feel it. You will be safe. I promise you that. Once you stand up to him, you won’t fear their demon forms anymore.”_

“Is that a fact of the universe you’re giving me?” I ask. 

_“It is.”_

Sometimes the voice could predict the future or tell me things I called a Fact of the Universe. It meant it was something out of everybody’s control, even holy beings. It was something that the universe decided on. There was nothing that could stop the universe. Trust me, I’ve tried.

_“Now, we will continue with putting you into your nightmares. Once you’re fully desensitized to everything, you’ll be able to return to your physical body. “_

“Let’s get back to it then.” 

~~~

Beel eyes her warily. It seems like she was having some nightmares again as she groans lowly, a crease coming to interrupt her brow. He was sitting off to the side, doing some studying and eating some of his snacks as he watched over her. She had been fairly quiet for the past couple of hours but every once in a while it’d start over again. 

“Hey, Rin? You’re okay,” he says softly. Satan suggested talking to her one of the other occasions he dropped by to visit, telling Beel that sometimes humans could hear when they were unconscious. 

“Levi’s really sorry about what he did to you. He said he’ll sign a pact to make it up to you.” She continues to move around, mouth pressed into a thin line. 

He decides to run his fingers through her hair again, amazed at how soft it still was after all her thrashing around. A sigh of relief left his lips once she stopped moving, unconsciously moving closer to his touch. Without noticing, he slipped out his D.D.D, taking a photo of her on autopilot and blinking as he realises what he just did. The screen glows dimly in the room as it grows darker, evening arriving in the Devildom. Her sleeping face was reflected on the pixels on his phone, an adorable sight. 

Internally, he knew Mammon would hate that he had this picture. Mammon threw a massive fit when Lucifer told them all that Rin would be staying in his room for the time being after all. Beel knew that they had just gotten to know each other and it made no sense for him to think like this towards her but something just felt..right about this. But Mammon liked her, and Beel knew that. He decides to ignore the feeling in his chest, getting up to continue his work from before. 

Still, he couldn’t help but let his thoughts drift back to her. As of recent, he and Mammon were spending more time with her before the incident happened. Occasionally, she would go down to the kitchen and find him rifling through the fridge, offering to cook him some food and playing around with Devildom ingredients. During those moments she seemed to let her guard down, talking to him a little easier as she got more and more tired. Her smile would be light and he felt it lessening his hunger, even if for a bit. 

“Hmm? Where am I?” 

He turns around, seeing that Rin was attempting to sit up in his bed. She must have woken up as soon as he left, blinking slowly. Her eyes widen as they land on him, a hand coming up to wipe the sleep away from her eyes. 

“Beelzebub?” she asks, voice sounding so small compared to before. He nods, returning to her side. 

“Sorry about this. I kind of broke the wall of your bedroom when you were asleep,” he explains. 

“I-how?” 

“Mammon tried to eat my custard and I got mad at him.” 

More than just mad. Beel knew that it was a good thing that she wasn’t present for that turn of events. His anger made him shift into his demon form as he tried to attack, leading to the wall being destroyed. If she saw that again so close to seeing Levi’s demon form there was no telling how bad it’d get.

“So I’m staying in your room now?” She tries to get up, feet dangling a couple of inches off of the floor. His bed must be raised a lot higher than her own bed.

“Yeah. Just until we can get it fixed,” he says, feeling bad that she had to wake up after passing out in a strange room.

“Sorry about that. Where have you been sleeping recently then? There?” Her eyes fall to the opposite side of the room. 

His side of the bedroom was brighter, walls and bed various shades of a deep red. The bed’s headboard rests against the wall, a glowing gold minimalist mural of the rising sun partially covered by it. Various paintings of a day’s sky hang above it, contrasting the other side of the room. There his twin’s bed sat, a variety of purples resting against a purple wall with paintings of the night hanging over the bed and the same style of mural on the wall. The difference was that this mural was of a moon and star, opposing Beel’s sun. The rooms were not only opposing each other thematically, but they were perfectly mirrored. Whatever was on one side of the room was mirrored on the other side, down to the symmetrical rug that sat in the middle of the space. 

“Oh…I don’t sleep there. It’s my twin’s bed.” Rin looks at him, confused. 

“You have a twin? Why isn’t he here?” She sits up, watching his expression.

“We aren’t really twins. We’re total opposites really. Belphie and Lucifer had a…disagreement so Lucifer sent him up to the human realm as the demon exchange student. He was forced into it even though he didn’t want to, so that’s why you can’t bring him up in front of Lucifer,” he explains. 

“Can you tell me more about him?” she asks. 

“Being twins just means that our father made us at the same time. Other than that we don’t really have any other similarities. We still got along really well though.” Beel smiles to himself as he recalls the memories. 

“We used to have a little sister, Lilith. It used to be the three of us. Me, Belphie, and Lilith. We were always together.” 

His face fell as he thought back to Lilith. He didn’t want to think about what happened, how he failed his brother and sister. 

“That was a long time ago though.” 

He can tell she wants to ask more about it, but she keeps her mouth shut, thankfully. She must have been able to tell that he was unwilling to continue talking about Lilith. After a while, she speaks, drawing his attention as she takes a breath in to talk.

“Why don’t you sleep here? Should I stay on the floor or something? It's your room after all,” she says, trying to leave the bed. 

He notices how unsteady her legs are when one foot manages to touch the ground and quickly grabs her before she could put her weight on it, carrying her gently. In his arms, she seems even more delicate than before. Beel was big, even for a demon’s standards and working out constantly didn’t help his case. There was a part of him that was scared of holding her too tightly lest she break in his arms. Up close there was such an enchanting smell coming from her, something he couldn’t place. It made him feel better after thinking about Lilith.

“Beelzebub? Is something wrong?” she asks. He snapped out of his reverie. 

“Sorry. You look like you can’t stand yet. You can sit in the chair if you don’t want to lie down right now,” he says, putting her down in the red armchair. He watches her wiggle her toes, stretching out her calves and thighs similarly to how he would after a workout. 

“When do they think my room will be fixed? I don’t want to impose on you so much.” The softness in her tone stung him a bit, worried she was afraid of him now, but he didn’t know how to breach the subject without scaring her off. 

“I’m not sure.” 

For a few moments, nothing was said. Something seemed to be her mind as she stretched her muscles out, most likely trying to just get used to using them after she was unconscious for so long. He worries over his lip, biting the skin there as he waits for her to speak again. When it was clear she wouldn’t he took matters into his own hands. 

“Why don’t you call me Beel? Everybody does,” he says, hoping she wouldn’t take it the wrong way. 

“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t call any of you by shortened names,” she responds. Her tone seems a little biting, as though he made her mad. 

He falls quiet again, ears perking up when he hears her sigh. 

“Sorry, I just hate it when I get put out of commission. I just don’t want to offend any of you so I don’t call you nicknames. If you don’t mind I’d rather call you Beel anyway, Beelzebub is a pretty long name don’t you think?” She offers him a shy smile, making his heart skip a beat. He could understand why Mammon likes her so much. 

“Y-yeah,” he stutters. 

She leans against the back of his chair, bringing her legs up to her chest. When she fell unconscious the doctor dressed her in a long simple robe that covered her body entirely but as her head leaned back, it exposed the milky white skin of her neck and collar. He felt the urge to bite down and try to eat her, wondering how she’d taste. Demons weren’t allowed to eat humans but he remembered when they were a few thousand years ago, mouth drooling slightly at the thought. 

He tries to distract himself by looking back up to her face, the drowsy look making his heart clench with a strange feeling he knew he was trying to ignore. Thick lashes brushed against round cheeks, her soft face contrasting slightly with the sharp peak of her nose and thin eyes. Her hair fell loosely to frame her face, full lips blowing away at the strands. She brings a hand up to brush it away, thin fingers moving deftly through the air as she stretches out her wrist. 

Beelzebub knew that the girl was beautiful, especially by a demon’s standards. She was smaller than most, and yet there was something about the way she carried herself that made her seem so much larger than life. Despite that, it was clear that she was built well and Beel caught himself staring at the ripples of her muscle when she’d stretch, shirt lifting slightly to tease him when she moved around a little too much. Her laugh was infectious to him and he always found himself smiling along with her when she would, a selfish part of him wanting to hide her away and keep her to himself. 

He knew that the way he felt about her was something almost dangerous. She was just a human after all, she’d die soon. He’d live on well past her death but yet, something about it made him feel like if he was able to spend time with her, then he wouldn’t mind visiting her grave every few years after her death. So long as he was able to bask in that warmth, he wouldn’t care.

Almost as though she knew what he was thinking her eyes snapped back to him, scrutinizing every detail of him. Her attention comes out of nowhere, confusing and flustering him. He ran his fingers through his hair unconsciously, preening the slightest bit under her gaze. 

“Is something on my face?” he asks. 

“No.” She finally manages to stand up, heading to the door. 

“I’m going to go look for Leviathan. I have to talk to him.” Beelzebub runs to the door, blocking her way. 

“No way. I’m not letting you.” She crosses her arms, frowning. 

“He tried to attack you-it’s not a good idea to talk to him alone.” He didn’t think he could handle seeing her like that again, attacking herself and screaming like she did on the podium. 

He didn’t want to see her that hurt ever again.

“Fine. Call Mammon for me. I’ll go with him.” Beel shakes his head, refusing her request. 

She scowls, grabbing his wrist with more force than he thought a human her size capable of, dragging him to the side. Her hand went to open the door and she stepped into the hallway, turning to look back at him. He stared at her in shock. 

“How’d you do that?” he asks. Her hand wasn’t even big enough to wrap around his hand fully and yet she managed to get him out of the way. Humans weren’t that strong were they?

“Sorry Beel. I have some things to sort out. I bet Lucifer will want to talk to me later so I will. But I need to talk to Leviathan first. I’ll make sure Mammon’s with me though. Don’t worry about it.” And with that she took off, looking for the Avatar of Greed. 

_“She called me Beel,”_ he thinks to himself, a light smile on his lips. 

He likes the way that sounds on her voice. 

~~~

“I’m glad ya came to get me Rin,” Mammon says, walking beside me as we head to the planetarium. This house was just full of surprises, wasn’t it? 

“I was gonna go by myself but then Beel wouldn’ let me. He’s right though. Goin’ by myself would be a pretty dumb move right?” Mammon nods in agreement. 

“You called him Beel. Y’all close now or somethin’?” I shrug. 

“He asked me to call him that. I guess y’all call each other by shortened names right? Makes sense.” 

“Well yeah. Leviathan and Beelzebub can be a bit of mouthful right? I don’t think any a’ the others will mind if you do that for them as well,” he says. 

“If I die it’s on your hands fucko.” He rolls his eyes as we strode into the room. Leviathan stood in the middle of it, holding a disc in hand and fidgeting nervously. 

“Oh! Hi. Mammon told me you wanted this too. I brought it so that you wouldn’t have to ask me yourself,” he explains, handing the disc off to Mammon. 

“Are you feeling better Rin?” Leviathan’s voice sounds nervous, but it only makes sense. He did almost kill me after all. 

“Yeah. Just a little hungry but I think I’m alright for the most part. Thanks for asking Levi,” I smile, hoping to alleviate his worry.

“You haven’t called me Levi before,” he exclaims, eyes widening in shock. 

“You don’t mind, do you? As cool as your name is, I don’t think I have the mental capacity to say Leviathan all the time.” He shakes his head. 

“I don’t. It’s fine by me.” He fidgets with his hands. 

“Oh yeah, you wanted a pact right? Are you sure you do? After all, I’m just an icky otaku and I almost…” He trails off but I had an idea of what he was worried about. 

“I want nothing more than to enter a pact with you right now Levi,” I tell him, stepping closer to the demon. 

My hand goes to cup his chin, forcing his orange-blue eyes to look at me. His features were more delicate than the others, making me think he’d make a pretty girl. He had a slender body, the thinnest of the brothers and yet I could tell that he wasn’t as weak as one might assume at first. His skin was pale, most likely a result of constantly shutting himself into his room. Another very pretty demon, and one that was easy to fluster. 

“I mean it Levi. I know you just got a little worked up. Won’t you enter the pact with me?” I ask, batting my eyelashes. 

The loose grip I have on him made him flush intensely, stepping back and covering his face to avoid my gaze. I smirk to myself. Maybe Asmodeus and I should have a contest to see who’s better at charming people without magic. 

“Alright, break it up break it up!” Mammon yells, waving his arms and separating the two of us even further. “Levi, are ya gonna make the pact now or not?” 

“I will,” he says, preparing to sign it when Mammon stops him. 

“Just a word of warnin’. She’s got a lot of magic like Lucifer said before, remember? It might feel a little funny when ya sign the pact. Don’t panic though, I’m fine so you should be too.” Levi nods, now raising his hands to sign the pact.

Again, the smell of burning flesh fills the air as his sigil made its mark on my left upper bicep, joining Mammon’s. I raised the sleeve of the robe I wore to look at it, satisfied. At the rate this was going, I might be able to make seven pacts. 

Now it was time to figure out what exactly Lucifer was hiding upstairs. 

~~~

“I’m glad to see you’re awake now,” Lucifer says to me as I step into his office, disc in hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” I respond, taking in his bedroom. 

Lit in the dim lights of all his candles Lucifer sat, reading a book on a white angular couch facing opposite a white bed. His coffee table was perfectly clear. He must not be someone who enjoys clutter. A painting sat over his headboard, depicting an epic battle of some sort. I liked his room, the white with gold accents making it seem elegant and yet comfortable as his bed wasn’t perfectly made and the rug underfoot seemed soft. A fireplace sat off to the side, burning brightly and giving the room a nice woodsmoke smell. A sculpture of a robed skeleton holding up one of the pillars in his room sat next to the fireplace. A symbol of how he felt like he was the only one holding up his brothers?

“You drink a lot?” I ask, pointing at the glass of alcohol in his hand. The smell was strong, telling me it had a high alcohol content. 

“Sharp nose. I didn’t know humans could smell so well. Not as much as I should. My brothers can be a handful, as I’m sure you’ve seen.” He eyes the object in my hands, curious. 

“What is that?” 

“It’s for you. I heard you wanted to listen to this soundtrack so I got Levi to give it to me. That was the point of the competition anyways. To try and get that out of him.” I hand it over to Lucifer, the demon appraising it. 

He walks over to a gramophone, putting it in but not playing the disc yet. 

“I’m not interested in the series that this is from, rather my interest lies with the disc’s history. Apparently, it’s got quite a bloodied history. Now that you’ve given this to me I must tell you that I won’t be leaving my room. 

“I trust you understand that as a demon, I must give in to my temptations. Don’t do anything that will get you in trouble,” he says, turning back to me. 

I blink at him, only bowing slightly before leaving his room. I didn’t want to promise something I couldn’t keep myself to and he didn’t come out to stop me. 

Once I heard the music begin to play I made my way over to the staircase. It seemed a little blurry now that I was closer and I recognised the spell that was on it. It was a simple cloaking spell that was used to hide things in plain sight. The brothers must have been able to see the staircase but upon reaching it they might not have thought anything of it and just walked away thanks to its effects. 

Higher up it seemed to get even blurrier, the dark of the top of the stairs making it seem as though nothing was there. I could feel something though. Someone’s energy was up there. It must have been thanks to my human origins that I could make my way up here. Sometimes, spells worked funny on me because of it, this being an example. I was able to slip in between the layers of the spell but spending too much time in it might be dangerous. A quick check upstairs wouldn’t be a bad idea though. 

I head up the stairs, the darkness seeming to ebb away a bit at the top. Whatever was up here might have been able to resist the effects of the spell lightly, dispersing it. My bare feet pad against the floor and I heard movement behind the door at the top as it heard me. Hands came up against the door as I neared it, a person standing behind it. 

“Oh! Finally! You heard me!” the person exclaims breathlessly. “I’m a human up here and I’ve been trapped thanks to that demon Lucifer! He’s locked me up!” He seems impatient, tapping against the iron bars with his fingers. 

“You have to help me. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve been kept here.” 

I neared the door, taking a good look at the face. The blue-violet eyes looked the same as Beelzebub’s and upon further inspection, I realised that I recognised him. 

“You’re not human,” I say without thinking. He starts at this, then smirks. 

“I guess you’re smarter than I thought. Who am I then?”

“Belphegor. Seventh oldest. Avatar of Sloth,” I reply shakily.

“Wow. How’d you know that?” My brain short-circuits as I try to make something up.

“Beelzebub told me about you! He said that you’re up in the human realm right now.” 

“If I’m not mistaken, this isn’t the human realm now is it? Lucifer locked me up here and now I need help getting out. Are you willing to do me a favour?” he asks, eyes glittering with hope.

Something about the air around him seemed sinister, and yet I could feel myself getting a little drowsy, unsure if it was his magic or the fact that the spell Lucifer cast was taking a toll on my body. Thanks to how weak my magic was, I wasn’t able to fend it off at all. I’d have to return soon. 

Belphegor looks at me, navy coloured hair covering his right eye. He was as pale as Leviathan, maybe just the slightest bit darker but he also had delicate features like his older brother and a lazy drawl to his words like Mammon. Something about him made me think of fellow fox demons I met in my time. Beautiful but vindictive. I had no doubt that he’d try to charm me into helping me if I didn’t agree steadily.

“Alright. I’ll do it,” I agree. He grins a conniving sort of smile. 

“If you want to help me then you’ll have to make a pact with all six of my brothers then. Do you have any at the moment?” I raise my arm, showing him Mammon’s and Leviathan’s sigils. “Good. Let’s see, who should you try next?” A thin finger came up to tap at his chin, as he thought. 

“Beel. Beel will be a good next choice. You can’t tell him about this though. Or any of my brothers. They can’t know I’m up here. If someone accidentally lets it slip to Lucifer you’ll be saying bye bye to your life and I’m sure you don’t want that,” he warns. 

“And with those six pacts I’ll be able to unlock this door for you?” I took a closer look at the door. 

It was definitely a powerful spell but with some time I might have been able to erode it and break it but the process would be much too chaotic and would alert Lucifer right away. I’d need a very powerful spell that could break it all at once and then give me time to run away but with the way that I had to keep myself a secret gathering that much energy would not only take forever, but I wouldn’t be able to hide it from the others. 

“Yes. With the power of my brothers it should be able to be opened,” he answers. 

“And your brothers can’t help you I assume. It’d be a mess,” I bring up.

“Wow, you’re smarter than you look,” he replies.

“I get that a lot,” I sigh. 

“You’re right. I can’t get my brothers to help. If they found out I’m sure that they’d all fly into a fit of rage and it’d be a fight like no other. The demon realm and human realm won’t be spared of the consequences. I want to find a peaceful way to resolve this. Honestly, I just want to talk things out with Lucifer. I just want a face-to-face conversation with him to figure things out. You can help me with that, can’t you?” he implores. At least this aligned well with my goal. Hopefully, if I helped him out I’d be able to sign a pact with him as well. It’d be good leverage. 

“I’ll get you out of here only if you’ll agree to make a pact with me as well.” A sharp laugh leaves his lips, openly mocking me. 

“My, a human making a request of a demon?” He ponders the thought before nodding. “Fine. If you can get me out of here, I’ll promise to make a pact with you.” The words hung in the air between us and I could feel that they weren’t true. He was lying to me. 

“I don’t trust you,” I say, backing away from the door. My body was beginning to feel the effects of the spell and soon I’d probably collapse. 

“Fine! Fine! I’ll do it, I’ll sign a pact!” he yells, growling. 

I leap down the staircase, not responding to his words. At the bottom, it was easier to breathe, and I shook the fog from my mind. Belphegor was forced to stay in the attic. Beel didn’t want to talk more about Lilith. None of the brothers knew that Belphegor was being kept over their heads. Lucifer was hiding something massive. 

“Lilith?” I question to myself, walking back to Beel’s room. 

“Why does that name sound so familiar?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao there's a lot to process here but I hope it makes sense!


	6. Midnight Snacking

* * *

_ I wish it didn’t hurt this much to say no to you. _

* * *

I hum to myself, heading down to hunt down some more food again and hoping that Beelzebub didn’t already empty out the fridge. When I woke up he was gone and I just assumed that he must have headed to get some food. He seemed to have just gotten there himself as I watched him open the fridge, head turning back to look at me. 

“Another nightmare Rin?” he asks, eyebrows drawing together in concern. 

“No, not that. I just felt hungry I guess,” I respond, sitting on the counter as I wait for him to finish. 

“I asked Diavolo to get me some more human food and stuff so I wanted to eat some of it. My names on it right?” He nods, throwing me a microwave dinner. The shit’s awful for you but there’s worse I could put into my body. 

“Is that something you normally eat?” Beel asks, closing the fridge now that he has an armful of food. He puts the pile next to me, beginning to eat. 

“No. It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure,” I respond, going to the microwave to warm it up. “There’s just something about fake chicken and potatoes that’s so satisfying.”

“Humans are certainly interesting,” I hear him say through a mouthful of food. 

I go back to the fridge, seeing the massive amount of ingredients Diavolo bought for me. Guess he wasn’t totally useless at all, even if he just forced Barbatos to go and buy everything. It’d be enough for me to cook several meals for the entire duration of the program and more, permitting Beel didn’t eat it all. 

“Can you cook something for me again tonight?” I turn to face him, excitement glittering in his eyes at the question. “I’d love to try home-cooked human food this time since you’ve got some stuff. I don’t eat it a lot since we’re not allowed to go up there a lot.” 

“It looks like I have enough ingredients to make you a single serving and that’s about it though. Too much and I think you’d just eat this whole store yourself,” I tease, heart dropping at the sight of his face falling.

“Oh jeez, okay, okay. I’ll cook you some things if you want. But, I’ll do some Devildom cooking. Save some of my precious human food, you know?” 

“Really?!” His face lights up and he looks like a child in a candy shop. Or I guess, Beel in a candy shop. “You will?!” 

The microwave dings as I take out my microwave dinner, peeling off the plastic and getting a glass of milk for the dessert portion, nodding at his excitement. 

“Let me eat a bit first and I can get started right now. Is there anything that I can cook right now without having to use magic that you’d like to try?” Before he’d ask for something that’d use magic and he’d cast the spell but if he wanted something human-inspired I’d like to avoid the magic.

He pulls out his phone, scrolling through what I assume to be his several hundred bookmarks of recipes as he lets me eat, the happy grin remaining on his face. As he preoccupied himself, I ate my food, smiling to myself at his joy. When he wasn’t being too hangry or didn’t have his resting face on he looked pretty cute, I feel my heart rate pick up as I realise how badly my body seemed to be begging me to keep that smile on his face, an urge to kiss him almost becoming overwhelming as I continued to look at him. He was a grown demon, not a child. And yet, I wanted to just spoil him with all of my affections constantly. 

“This!” He points his phone at me, adding to his childlike happiness as I laugh, taking the device out of his hands. 

The picture seems to be some sort of stir fry, the only thing signalling to me that this was a Devildom recipe being the ingredients that were used. The noodles would be limbs of something, garnishes some strange sounding vegetables and protein of something I didn’t want to think too hard about. I learned quickly that the less I thought about it the tastier things would be. 

“Alright then Beel, how about being my sous chef again? I’m not fully used to where all the stuff in this kitchen is so I could really use some help here, alright?” He nods happily, taking his place at my side.

“What do you need me to do?” He seems antsy to begin, hands tapping on the wood island impatiently. 

“Why don’t you just gather the ingredients I need to cook this, and however much of it you want me to make for you?” I suggest. 

“However much I want?!” he says incredulously. 

“Even Satan doesn’t let me get that much when he’s on dinner duty. And the other times you made me food it was maybe a fraction of what I’d normally eat.” Satan acted almost like a mother to them all, scolding and taking more of the house duties. It was cute.

“However much you want today big guy! I’m feeling extra generous today.” I ruffle his hair playfully, the height difference a little more manageable since I was sitting on the counter. 

He picks me up in a hug, thanking me endlessly. I feel a bit like a ragdoll while he swings me around and pat his head more as I laugh at his enthusiasm. 

“Beel! You can put me back down now! It’s okay, I don’t mind cooking for you. Honestly, I love to cook. I really got into it after my husband showed me how passionate he was about food and stuff. He was always developing new recipes and making me try them.” This was the first time I was telling him. The other nights my brain was a little more awake to stop myself. Today just felt a little different.

“You’re married?” he asks. “Is he worried about you being down here then? Does he know?” 

He finally put me down, a weird expression on his face. For some reason, I detected a bit of hurt in his voice, making me raise an eyebrow. 

“Was Beel. I was married. We’re not married at the moment. Go get me the stuff to cook now while I try not to hurl from you shaking me.” He follows my instruction, a slight skip in his step that I think comes from the sound of my divorce.

“At the moment?” he clarifies, head in the fridge. I grin in response.

“He keeled over! People do that. Sometimes, they die and you can’t do anything about it.” He pauses, the light of the fridge seeming more ominous than it should at the moment. I smile to myself, kicking my legs against the counter. 

“You look a little too happy about that.” He put some of the ingredients next to me, now concerned. “Why are you laughing?”

“Comedy makes sadness easier to bear, you know.” I tilt my head, sighing. “It was a long, long time ago though. So don’t worry too much about it.” 

Without speaking, he comes up to me and gives me another hug. This time it was softer and more gentle, as though he was afraid I’d break in his hold. He put his head on my shoulder, the warmth of his body making me want to tear up. The gentleness of his hold made me sad for some reason and I brought my hands up to hold his arm, savouring his embrace. 

“You don’t have to pretend it doesn’t hurt you. It’s okay to be sad about it. Losing people close to you is hard.” I chuckle, patting his arm. 

“It’s fine. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it. Now come on you wanted some food, right? Eating something might cheer both of us up huh?” The hug seemed to last a little too long. I guess in a way, he was trying to comfort himself after telling me about Lilith’s death. 

When he finally let go, he seemed a little better, a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless on his face. 

“You’ll cook it for me, right? Or do you feel too tired now? Humans get fatigued easily right?” 

“I’ll cook it for you. Don’t worry! It’ll be fun.” I grin at him, hopping off the counter and going to turn on the stove. 

“Can I ask you to cut up the ingredients without eating too many of them Beel? I’ll get to work on boiling the noodles.” I fill up a pot of water as I speak, putting it on the stove and opening the noodle packets.

“Sure.” I hear the knife hit the cutting board as he works, listening carefully to make sure there wasn’t too much chewing happening behind me. 

“Just remember Beel, the more you eat the less I have to cook with.” 

“Oh.” The knife pauses for a minute before he continues. 

I turn to his side of the kitchen after putting the noodles into boiling water. I stand next to him, tempted to pop in between his arms as he did his task but I knew that it might end up in him cutting one or both of us. Instead, I settle for leaning a little into him, hoping that I wouldn’t distract him too much. 

“You’re doing good, thanks for not eating too much of the stuff.”

“I really want to try the human spin on this recipe,” he explains, setting the cut vegetables off to the side as I raid the pantry for more human snacks, seeing what I could bear to part with.

“Here, I don’t want you to be too hungry. Want some?” I found a giant jar of cheese balls, not exactly sure if I told Diavolo to buy me them but I wasn’t going to finish them myself. Beel looks at me, grinning at the giant container. 

“What are they?” he asks, reading the label. 

“I’d love to tell you but I have no idea what these things are made of.” I turn the container, humming with interest. 

“Huh. Cornmeal. Don’t know what else I expected but not corn.” The lid comes off with a little pop and I took an experimental sniff. “Never had these before. Here.”

“Oh. Thanks!” He bends over to eat the one out of my hand before, swallowing it whole. I laugh and grab another handful, keeping it open for him. 

“Beel, try chewing. I know you don’t choke but still, just in case.” 

His eyes light up at the sight of my open hand, eating all of the puffs. I could tell he was about to swallow them whole again when our gazes met and he stopped, jaw beginning to move as he chewed slowly to avoid being scolded again. I laugh, going to wash my cheese and slightly saliva covered hand when he takes it from me. 

“Sorry. I should have just eaten it myself,” he apologises before going to lick my hands of the artificial cheese, the long muscle working quickly to clean my hand of the stuff. 

“Tastes good.”

“Beelzebub, I was going to go wash my hands. You didn’t need to do that!” My face flushes a bit, embarrassed that I liked that a little bit too much. 

“Plus that’s a little R18. You know - the kinda stuff Asmodeus would like.” The realisation of what he just did finally seems to hit him, cheeks turning red. 

“Ah. Sorry. I forgot,” he says as he heads over to take the noodles out of the boiling water. 

I shake my head, washing my hands carefully to avoid contaminating the food. Even if it would just be Beel eating, I was going to be safe. Mamma didn’t raise no culinary wreck. 

Well, my mom didn’t really raise me so I don’t know if she would have raised a culinary wreck. She did a good job raising an emotional wreck though, I’d give her that.

The sizzling of noodles hitting the pan comes from behind me. Beel must have gotten a little impatient and started cooking them himself. No matter, I’d just help out then I start to look around the kitchen for seasonings and spices from the human world, throwing in whatever looks like a good idea as Beel cooks the noodles, putting the vegetables in.

I set up next to him, tossing the prepared protein into a separate pan and shaking it up to make sure that it will cook evenly. It was nice to be cooking with Beel, and even if it wasn’t totally made of human ingredients it looked like it was shaping up to be a good dish. It didn’t smell like Devildom cooking and that was a plus for me. 

Once we combined our two pans together, Beel gave them a last-minute toss to combine them before finding a gigantic plate to put everything out on. He must be planning to eat it all right now then. 

“Sorry I didn’t do more of the cooking,” I say. “But it smells good.”

“S’fine. You helped out and it was fun.”

I begin to head out of the kitchen, appetite sated for the most part before he calls my name again, holding two forks in his hand. 

“You aren’t going to eat with me Rin?” 

“Huh? I thought it was just for you. Will there even be enough if I join you? I know you get super hungry.” He seems a little conflicted, shifting his weight as he looks back up at me. 

“But you helped. It wouldn’t be very nice of me to just eat it all myself.” 

“Eh. You’re right there.” 

I sit down across from him taking a bite, glad that it doesn’t taste too much like Devildom food. Beel was refraining from eating, fidgeting nervously with his hands as he watches me, making me feel a little awkward. 

“Now I have to return the question to you. Aren’t you going to eat with me?” I say a little awkwardly.

“Well yeah…but I want you to eat first. I get a little oblivious sometimes so if I start I’m afraid you won’t be able to eat any of it.” His voice seemed small, absolutely adorable coming from the demon that used to intimidate me so much. 

“Don’t worry Beel, I’m not very hungry. Just wanted a bit and then I’m good to go. It’s getting kinda late anyways, I think I should sleep. You don’t mind?”

“Thanks for joining me anyway!” Beel’s face brightens up as I wave goodbye to him, the loud clattering of him eating behind me as I left to go to bed. 

~~~

I woke up to being violently shook, Mammon screaming something indecipherable in my face. I blink at him, waiting to see if his face would stop doubling as my brain attempts to wake up enough but my body moves faster, pushing him off of me with a scream. 

“What the fuck?!” I yell shrilly, voice cracking thanks to sleep. 

“You’re almost late! Ya got twenty minutes before we have to leave!” 

“Okay! Okay! Get out I’ll just skip breakfast! Fuck man!” I push him out of my room, sighing. That was not a welcome wake up call in any sense of the term. 

Getting to campus I was drowsier than usual, the lack of food and rude awakening the culprit for such a struggle. Mammon was barely keeping me up, yelling at me more than once for leaning on him too much. I ended up having to cover my ears, making him finally leave me alone as we made it to the first class, a shared one between me, Mammon, and Beel.

“Hey, I didn’t see you at breakfast this morning,” Beel says, pulling his chair to sit across from me. 

“Yeah. Missed it. Slept too late. Mammon screamin’ and shit.” I face-plant the desk, hoping to catch a bit of sleep before class starts, hearing Beel yelp in concern. 

“Hey, here. Have something to eat then.” He lifts my head, putting some pastry in my face. 

“Sugar. Too much.” I wave away his offering, trying to face-plant again before he grabs my shoulders, forcing me back up. 

“What if you die?! Humans are so fragile after all! Are you sure?” I look at him. 

“Beel, are you just worried because I collapsed a while ago?” The guilty look on his face tells me yes and I sigh. 

“Listen, that was a nervous breakdown. Those things happen. Sometimes. I’m fine, promise. Can I just sleep a bit before the class starts Beel?” His response was cut off by one of the students behind us snickering. 

“Hard to believe that’s the human Lord Diavolo chose!” a female voice says not-so-subtly. “She can’t even stay awake. How embarrassing.” I was tempted to tell her to shut her mouth but it didn’t seem like a good idea if I couldn’t fight back. 

“Looks like she’d make a better cocksleeve than a student!” a male voice taunts, making me snap to attention. The two cackle at my reaction, continuing to berate me. 

The lack of sleep must have been getting to me-I felt like wringing their throats or crying. Couldn’t choose. I was aware that in my short time here a lot of the students seemed to be much more…sexually explicit than I expected them to be in regards to me. 

The loud squealing of a chair against the floor shook me out of my thoughts, Beel walking over to them both and growling something to them under his throat. Their faces change, fear taking over their features as Beel walks back, a lighthearted smile on his face. 

“Are you sure? I can run out to the vending machine to get you something. Actually, I will. Give me a second, I’ll be right back.”

He ran out before I could protest, a smile sitting on my face as I watched him run out as though he didn’t just seem to make those demons regret being spawned. Mammon sidles up next to me, tapping my nose. I feel myself becoming more awake, a slightly fascinated expression on Mammon’s face. 

“Beel never shares food with people. He’d rather die than give someone else his food. The fuck did ya do huh?” He flicks my forehead. “Also, I used a bit of magic to wake ya up. Lucifer’s gonna be on your ass if he catches you slippin’ up.” 

“Why didn’t ya do that instead a’ shakin’ me awake asshole?” I rub my forehead, looking up at a flustered Mammon. 

“Just forgot alright? S’not like I was watchin’ ya sleep and lost track a’ time!” He crosses his arms. 

“Anyway, don’t avoid my question. What’d ya do to Beel?” I shrug. 

“I dunno. Beel was the one who offered.” I think back to last night. “But, he did share food with me yesterday. Said somethin’ ‘bout how he’d feel bad if I didn’t get a bite.” Mammon whistles lowly. 

“Damn, really? And here the rest of us are, fightin’ Beel to make sure he doesn’t eat us outta house an’ home. What’s so special about you?” 

“Mams, I said I dunno. He’s coming back by the way, so hush up.” Beel grins at me, walking over and giving me a bag of almost opened chips and soda. 

“I forgot I was getting this for you so I almost ate it. But look! I didn’t open it all the way.” He seems a little too proud of himself, making me laugh. 

“Thanks Beel. It’s not exactly the best meal to start the day with, but it’ll do,” I thank him.

I open the bag, eating a couple of chips before handing him a few and washing them down with soda. Just like last night, he ate the chips I offered him out of my hands, except this time he was careful to keep his tongue in his mouth instead of on my fingers. Shame. 

“Thanks Rin. You’re always so nice to me.” We grin at each other before Mammon clears his throat a little too loudly, interrupting us.

“Get a room or somethin’ why dontcha? Actually don’t! Just stop that,” he complains, trying to pull Beel’s chair away from me. 

“Mammon, you’re acting like a dad. Why don’t you take the place of my actual father?” My fingers go to play with the tin of the soda. 

“Why’d I do something like that huh? You got a Dad dontcha? What’s wrong with him?” The tab of the can comes off and I put it in my mouth, biting down on the weak metal. 

“I did. Kinda sucks though.” The two demons look back at me. 

“Whaddya mean?” Mammon seemed worried that he struck a nerve or something. 

“Don’t worry too much about it. I haven’t seen my folks for…” Centuries? Millennia? “A while now. I’ve been by myself for a while. “I don’t like to think about it too much.”

“Are you an orphan?” Beel asks point-blank, making Mammon clap his hand over his mouth. 

“Ya can’t just ask people if they’re orphans Beel! What if she cries?!” 

My eyes go to the clock. Teacher was running late today, no wonder our conversation wasn’t cut short earlier. 

“S’fine. I guess you could call me an orphan. My parents died a long, long time ago. Geez, looks like a lot of people die around me. Watch out you two-maybe you’ll be next,” I laugh, finishing the soda and crushing the can. 

“Thanks again Beel. Wanna go out for lunch later? I’m probably going to eat more than usual since I skipped breakfast.” 

“Sure sounds good,” he says, patting my shoulder. 

Finally, the teacher walks in, commanding control of the room as all the students return to their seats. I pull out my stuff, thankful that the brothers were a lot nicer to me than I expected at first. It was more fun down here then I thought it’d be.


	7. Fallen Angels

* * *

_ The love you gave me hurt so much, but I miss it. _

* * *

When I woke up this morning, I happened to walk past Lucifer and Beel discussing something. Being the nosy asshole I am, I snuck up on the two, hiding to listen in on the conversation. Beel was trying to convince Lucifer to take Belphegor’s spot in the exchange program since Belphegor didn’t even want to do the program in the first place. Lucifer said that Belphegor had to go since he was standing in the way of Diavolo’s dream, something that Lucifer couldn’t stand for. 

“So you managed to get Beel to tell you about Belphie and Lilith? Wow, good on ya! I’m impressed! I knew you two were getting closer but I didn’t know it was that close. Ya shoulda told me sooner!” Mammon and I were now sitting at the dinner table, talking about what we both saw this morning. 

“Yeah. He told me about them a while ago. When I woke up. Didn’t seem to want to expand on them too much though,” I say, picking at the table cloth. 

Mammon showed up right as Lucifer gave Beel an ultimatum - choose either him or his twin, Belphegor. Beel paused, unable to answer. I felt my heart break for the demon. Beel was a loving person and wanted to do what was best for his family or the people around him. After all, he got mad at me for trying to talk to Levi and I could tell underneath he was just worried about me and we weren’t anything more than casual friends. And now occasionally nightly cooking buddies. 

“Ya know, we used to all be angels actually,” Mammon continues, snapping me out of my mind. “All of us. Back then Lucifer loved the three of them so much but things changed when we landed down here.

“Lucifer’s always been super serious ya know so after pledging loyalty to Lord Diavolo he just kept puttin’ Diavolo’s desires first from then on, no matter what happened, even if he doesn’t agree with it. I mean c’mon, it wouldn’t kill him to loosen up sometimes. But yeah, so ‘cuz of that when Belphie opposed him he got shipped off to the human realm and that was that.” A sad look comes over his face and for some reason, I get the feeling that Mammon feels bad about the situation too. Maybe he thought that he should have been able to step in and help his youngest brother. 

“I know that nothin’ Belphie said would change his mind even if Lucifer decided to listen but still…I get the feelin’ that if they did talk it out things would’ve turned out different.” When he finishes talking he grins, looking at me excitedly. 

“Woah, I just said something cool, didn’t I!? That doesn’t happen a lot!” I laugh a little, smiling at his excitement.

“Nah Mammon. I’m sure you say cool things more often than you’d think. Don’t beat yourself up too much eh?” I ruffle his hair, laughing at the flustered expression on his face when my phone goes off. A text from Luke, the little angel was on my screen. 

Luke is a cute little angel but I feel a little bad stringing him along and making him think that I was a human. He was just a kid though, so I didn’t exactly want to make him feel awful by being mean to him so I do my best to be nice to him. He was a little sweetheart but I hope he won’t hate me too much once he found out what I actually was. I had a plan to make a bunch of sweets for him just in case he decides he hates me one day.

“What’s going on?” Mammon rests his head on my shoulder, trying to look at my phone. I turn it off, tucking it into my pocket. 

“Nothin’. Gotta go. Bye Mammon! Don’t hurt yourself thinkin’ too hard!” I yell before running to the front gates where Luke told me to meet him.

Outside stood Luke, looking anxious as all hell. Once he saw me his eyes lit up and he bounds forward.

“I need you to let me stay with you tonight,” he starts. “I’m sorry for just getting to the point but you’re a blunt person right? I’ve seen the way you talk to the others. Please, I’m begging you!” I put my hands up, not liking the sound of an angel begging for a demon’s help. 

“Woah, no need to beg, kid. Sure. I don’t have an issue but I don’t have a room,” I say. He stares at me in disbelief.

“What do you mean?” 

“I fell unconscious a while ago and when I woke up I wasn’t in my room. I’ve been staying with Beel for a few days and will hafta until the room gets fixed. Looks like it’ll be a while.”

“Really?!” His face falls. “Now what am I going to do?!” 

“Beel’s a nice demon. I think he might let you stay with him if you ask him nicely. I’ll sneak you in. Here, climb on my back,” I suggest.

“What? Why?” I pointed at one of the windows. 

“That’s Beel’s window. I’m going to scale the side of the house, knock on the glass, and then bam! We’ll be in his room. Come on!” I grab him anyway, forcing him to hold onto my back. 

I found a good place to start climbing, glad to see that a lot of the bricks had good holds for me. I wouldn’t have to do anything that wasn’t too inhuman. As I start to scale the building I feel Luke’s holy energy beginning to prick at my skin. It wasn’t hurting but I knew that if I took too long it’d start to burn me and explaining why I have holy burns would be very difficult. Even then, that would probably take a few hours for burns to even start. Luckily for me, it looked like Beel was just heading upstairs to look for something. He looks at me through the glass, yelling something behind it as he opens the window for me to climb through. 

“Hello! I have a delivery of one small angel!” Beel’s eyes darted from me to Luke, confused. 

“How’d you do that? This is the second floor and the ceilings downstairs are pretty high.” He seems concerned, trying to check me to make sure I didn’t hurt myself. 

“I work out a decent amount on the human realm. I’d like to say I’m pretty fit.” 

“Don’t do that again. If you need to sneak in, call me and I’ll help. What if you fell and died?” he points out. I nod, brushing off his concern. He was a little preoccupied with the thought of me dying recently. I guess that’s what happens when you collapse for a few days. 

“Luke needs a place to stay for some reason. I told him to ask you himself to see if he could. Is that alright with you? Wait, Luke why are you even here?” I ask, turning to the angel. 

“Simeon’s getting too chummy with the demons! I keep telling him he needs to be more careful or he’ll get corrupted but he just brushes it off and tells me that I’m too much of a stickler for the rules and I told him that I can’t be friends with someone like that and I can’t go back to him after doing that!” Luke is very upset and Beel and I look at each other, laughing a bit at him. 

“Luke, you’re talking to a demon right now. Beel’s the one you’re going to be staying with. It won’t kill you to be nicer to him,” I say. “Beel, you should decide. It’s your space, not mine.” 

“…Okay. Luke can stay. I do owe him for that cake after all. That absolutely delicious cake…” He started to drool, thinking about the pastry and making me smile. He was pretty cute and I caught myself thinking that a lot. Kinda like a giant puppy.

“Really? Thank you!” Luke jumps up happily. 

“Just, make sure that my brothers don’t know you’re here. If they found out I’m housing an angel they’d kick me out of the house,” Beel warns. Luke nods in response. 

“I’ll make sure that the demons don’t find me!” He really was a talkative kid huh. No wonder the others call him a chihuahua. 

“If you keep barking like that, they’ll find out right away. Stay in my room and don’t leave-Rin and I will get you everything you need, alright?” Beel says, crossing his arms. “I’m putting myself in a lot of danger for you.”

“I don’t bark!” Luke complains. “All of you treat me like a dog!” 

I sigh, wondering just how difficult pulling this off would be. 

~~~

Keeping Luke a secret from the others wasn’t too awful. Satan didn’t seem to mind, saying that whatever cat we picked up from the side of the street should be returned once we finished playing with it. It had only been about an hour or two and things were going swimmingly. I was just the slightest bit worried that there would be direct questions pointed at me that I couldn’t avoid but the brothers didn’t seem too concerned. 

Beel and I managed to save some food for Luke but we had to chase Luke back into Beel’s room after we found him wandering around upstairs. When he got back to Beel’s room Luke told me a bit about the brother’s time as angels. I only knew a tiny bit from when they fell so I took in the things he told me, curious to learn more about them before the fall. 

That’s where we were now. He was explaining some stuff to me when suddenly, Beel burst in, an anxious look on his face. 

“We’re about to be found out. Lucifer’s going to be doing room inspections.” I tilt my head. 

“Can’t we just shove him under a drawer or something? I know some transformation magic I can use or, your magic’s strong isn’t it Beel? Can’t you do something?” I suggest. He shakes his head. 

“Nope. Asmo tried to hide a succubus in his room by turning her into a spider but Lucifer found her out immediately. He’s super strict since we have Mammon as a brother. Mammon would hide unpaid bills in his room so that’s why he’s so strict,” he explains. Jeez, Lucifer really was anal. 

“Luke, get into Belphie’s closet.” We both stare at Beel in shock. 

“Huh? You just said he found a spider succubus! How’s the closet going to help anything?” I point out.

“Well, it’s not like we have a choice. Come on. I’ll think up something.” He moves Luke to the closet, managing to shove him a few seconds before Lucifer’s knock sounds through the room. 

“Time for the inspection. Are you two hiding anything?” he asks as he walks in. I go over to the bed, sitting down and staying quiet. Beel shakes his head and Lucifer begins his look through the room. 

“Beel, open Belphie’s closet,” he orders. 

“Lucifer, there’s nothing there but-” Beel starts, cut off by Lucifer.

“I said open it Beel.” Beel does as he demands and we both stare at the totally empty closet. Luke’s gone. 

“Good. I’m glad to hear the rumours that you were keeping a puppy were false. Carry on with your nights. Rin, make sure you get some rest.” Lucifer leaves the room after his parting words, leaving us to just look into the still-open closet with confusion.

“Where the fuck did Luke go?” Beel shrugs at my question, not sure either. 

I go over to the closet, checking it. His scent was still around but he just wasn’t there. 

“We really have to find him before something bad happens.”. Beel nods in agreement, clearly unsure of where to even begin.

~~~

“Wait, here?” I touch the wall, reading the inscription. Or, trying to read it that was. 

It had been about a day since Luke disappeared and the two of us were, to put it nicely, more than mildly panicked. At class today Simeon thanked us for housing Luke for the time that he was throwing his fit and while he wasn’t wrong, we couldn’t just tell him that we lost his little friend. 

When we returned from classes today we spotted the dollhouse that sat at the foyer of the House of Lamentation. It was a perfect model of the home the brothers occupied but for some reason it showed an extra room. Beel didn’t seem to know about it when I asked so we found where it was on the model in the actual house, and now here we were, staring at a wall.

“I think so.” 

He crouches down beside me, looking at the words. The inscription was hidden within the wallpaper’s pattern.

“It’s written in the language of the angels. I can still read it. None of us ever forgot it.” Beel’s fingers trace over the hidden letters. 

“When the morning star dwelt in the heavens, its light shone down upon this one, sparkling brilliantly, the eighth of the eight,” he reads off. “It’s a riddle..” He stands back and I realise just how fast my heart was beating thanks to his proximity. 

“The morning star refers to Lucifer so it’s talking about when Lucifer was an angel. The eighth of the eight means someone he loved dearly, our sister. Lilith.” As soon as her name leaves his lips, a light envelopes the both of us. He takes my hand gently, walking me into the room. 

“This is…” He stares at the room in openmouthed shock. 

We find ourselves in a room of green, beautiful paintings of floral life adorning one side of the wall and a bed was on the other. The curtains were drawn but the room was still bright with the sun’s light. I wasn’t expecting to see the sundown here. It tended to just be dark or slightly darker. Everything was covered with white cloths, reminding me of a dead person’s room.

“This is Lilith’s room from up in the Celestial Realm. I’m sure of it.” Beel walks into the middle of the space, a sad look on his face. Something more must have happened.

“Beelzebub, can you tell me more about her?” I ask softly, not wanting to prod the topic too much. 

“Like I said before, she was our little sister, but she’s gone now. She died. In the Great Celestial war.” I manage to meet his gaze, a look of sadness in his eyes. “Do you know about the Celestial War?”

“I do. It’s when Lucifer stood up against your father, God right?” 

“Yeah. During the battle, Lilith’s wing was pierced by an arrow. Both Belphie and I saw it happen in front of our eyes. She fell out of heaven and died. Just before Lilith was shot, I saw angels from the opposing side draw their bows and aim at both her and Belphie. I couldn’t save them both…we were too far apart. I knew I could only save one.” His voice cracks as he recalls the memory and I had the urge to hug him. I had a feeling I knew where this was going. 

“Belphie’s eyes met mine…and just like that I rushed over to him and shielded him from the attack. I wasn’t able to save Lilith. She died. It was my fault.”

“Oh Beelzebub.” I walk over, grabbing his hand in both of mine. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Everyone tells me that. ‘You couldn’t help it,’ that’s what they all say. But none of them saw what I saw. They didn’t see how Lilith looked at me as the arrow pierced her wing, the face she made as she realised she was falling. They didn’t see that look of despair…” He looks about ready to cry and I feel my heart shatter. 

“No, no, no Beel it’s not your fault. It’s not. These things happen. You did what you could. You did what any rational being would,” I tighten my grip on his hand. 

“Belphie never said anything but I think he blames me for not saving Lilith. I know he would have wanted me to save Lilith. I knew at the time but I still chose him.” His eyes focus on me. 

“Rin, what would you have done?” I sigh, not thinking I’d be reliving this event with someone else so soon. 

“Beel…I’ve already had to make that decision.” He stares at me in shock. 

I sit on the ground, looking around the room as Beel joins me, eyes urging me to continue speaking. It seems as though he wanted me to share. His hand stays in mine, the warmth of our joined fingers assuring us both.

“A…few years ago my husband was killed. I was married at the time to a lovely man who had a child from a previous marriage. He was caught up in some business that included people who aren’t the best and he didn’t tell me. I managed to track him down and found him and his daughter who managed to get tangled up in all this business too. I was like you. I knew I had to save one but in my heart, I wanted to save my husband. His daughter and I have always had a rocky relationship.

“I was going to go save him but at the last moment I…I couldn't. I saved his daughter and he died. I watched him die in front of me and I couldn’t do anything about it.” I close my eyes, willing myself not to cry. It had been so long ago, but telling someone about it, even as indirectly as this was still sad. 

“If it were me in your position, I would have saved Belphie,” I say finally. “Either way, someone would have died Beel. You saw Belphie so you acted. Don’t you blame yourself.” 

“Was this the husband you told me about a few days ago?” he asks. I shake my head, hand squeezing his gently. 

“I’ve been married a few times. The one I’m telling you about wasn’t the same one from before. I look a little younger than I actually am.”

We sit in silence for a bit, digesting the information when my phone goes off. Mammon was calling me. 

“You should get that,” Beel says. My fingers go to pick up the call, not expecting to hear Mammon screaming at me again. 

“Rin! Ya gotta get down here! Lucifer found your dog and he’s about to kill him! We’re in the tomb!” 

“The tomb? Dog? It has to be Luke. Come on, follow me!” Beel drags me through the house, leading me out to a giant tomb after going down what felt like a ton of massive staircases. 

We were now underground, tall ceilings holding lanterns with candles and rows of coffins lined the sides of the grand hall. Dark gray stone surrounded us, Lucifer and Mammon standing in the middle of the tomb. I’d heard of this place before but I’d never been to the tomb that belonged to the Seven Sins. 

“Lucifer, come on! Calm down! He’s just a little dog, he won’t hurt you! No need to go revealing your true form over this is there?” I feel my body stiffen as Mammon said that. True form? Lucifer? 

“It’s okay Rin,” Beel says next to me, holding my hand tighter. “We won’t let Lucifer hurt you.” I follow Beel closely, my body shaking slightly but it wasn’t as bad as the initial shift from Levi. It’ll be okay. 

“Luke, that book you’re holding… **Do you realise what that is?”** Lucifer growls. Luke whimpers something in response but I couldn’t hear it well.

“That book…I know that book,” Beel stars. Mammon finally noticed us, yelling. 

“Finally! You two sure did take your sweet time!” Mammon runs over to us, visibly distraught.

“That’s a grimoire,” Beel continues. I gasped. This was a lot worse than I thought. 

“It is?!” Mammon yelled, looking back at the book. 

“That one’s a very important one. That one can make a demon do anything, even if it’s in direct violation of a pact.” Beel’s eyes go to look at the book too, panic evident in his eyes. If that was the case my ass was on the line too.

“Everything that we are rides on that book. We can  **never** allow it to be stolen under  **any** circumstance. I didn’t know it was down here.” Beel seems to want to go to grab it back from Luke but stays beside me, hand still holding mine. 

“Beel, none a’ that matters! Listen up dog!” Mammon addresses Luke. “How’d ya get down here? Nobody except for  **us** has the ability to access this place.” 

“I don’t know!” Luke yells. “I just ended up here! I fell here out of Beelzebub’s room-”

“Beelzebub’s room?  **Beelzebub’s room?”** Lucifer demands. This was not going to end well.

Lucifer’s anger turns to us three, Mammon and Beel coming in front of me to shield me from his wrath. Thankfully, I don’t feel as though I need to have another mental breakdown but the urge to fight him right now was not leaving me. I bite down on my instincts, allowing myself to be protected by the two brothers for now. I was worried for Beel though. Lucifer didn’t seem to be the most rational of all people when angered and now that his anger was pointed at him there was no telling what he’d do.

“You allowed an angel into the House of Lamentation?! An angel who tried to steal our grimoire?!” he roars. Luke tries to excuse himself, much to Mammon’s chagrin. 

“Oi, idiot! This ain’t no time to be makin’ excuses! Lucifer’s pissed and there’s no stoppin’ him when he’s like this. I mean-maybe one guy but-”

“You both better be ready to deal with the consequences,” Lucifer growls, staring down Beel and Luke. His voice almost sounds painful, grating harshly against our ears.

I grit my teeth, pushing my way from behind Mammon and Beel to protect Luke and Beel. If Luke was killed here there’d be no telling what the Celestial Realm would do in retaliation and if Beel died…I didn’t want to think about the potential repercussions right now. 

“Rin?!” Mammon yells from behind me. “Are ya tryna die?!” 

“Out of the way, human! Or do you want to die here?” Lucifer hisses, getting closer to me. I stare him down. 

_ “Come on Aiya, it’s alright,”  _ I think to myself.  _ “Remember, the voice told you that this would happen. You knew it would. Look how good you’re doing. Do NOT back down. Two lives are in your hands right now.” _ I can hear the alarmed voices from behind me, tuning them out to focus on standing my ground. 

_ “You fought off a ruler of Hell Aiya when you were barely 3000 years old. You handled newly fallen angels in their heat. You’ve done worse! You’ve felt the sting of an angel’s body against yours and survived. Lucifer is not that anymore. You can fight him off if you need to!”  _ my mind screams. My jaw clenches so hard I fear my teeth would break, doing my best to keep my breathing steady.

“A human thinking it can protect an angel and a demon? If you’re so insistent on playing the hero, fine. Pick one.” A smirk makes its way onto his lips. “It’s one or the other. Make your choice!”

“Sorry Luci,” I say, allowing myself to become cocky. “I don’t think I’ll be makin’ that choice!” The false confidence began to set off my adrenaline. I’d do this. I’d fight off Lucifer and protect them both if I needed to. 

“I’ll be savin’ both today!” 

“What’s that? You’re saving both? Do you think I’m going to allow a  **lowly** human that choice?!  **That you can have whatever it is that you WANT?! NO!”** The words that left him seem to be more towards himself rather than me. Did the guilt of Lilith’s death weigh on his mind too? 

My mind begins to get foggy. Shit. Not now. I could do this. I needed to protect Beel and Luke. I wasn’t going to let people die on my watch again. I feel my teeth elongate, jabbing at my lips painfully when the sound of a slamming door rings out behind us. 

“Lucifer!” Diavolo yelled. 

Fatigue overcomes me as the familiar feeling of a sedating spell was cast, adding to my already muddled brain. Someone was trying to sedate me. Diavolo was trying to help me keep my abilities a secret. He must have known that I’d go on the offence if forced to. Of course he did. 

~~~

I opened my eyes, back in Beel and mine’s temporarily shared room. The red-painted walls greet me as I sit up on the mattress, the blanket smelling exactly like him. I held it closer to my face, taking in the scent to calm me. He wasn’t here luckily, so I let myself indulge, wrapping the fabric around me wholly. I smile softly in contentment, snapping my eyes to the door when I hear it open, meeting Beel’s unsuspecting face.

“Rin?!” Beel stares at me, face flushing. 

“Uhh…I can explain-” I try to begin, dropping the blanket in my hands.

“I’ve been watching you. I was afraid you’d never wake up. Humans are fragile and stuff after all.” He seems to ignore what just happened, walking over to the side of the bed and staring deeply into my eyes. 

My soul feels like it was being pierced by the demon. I try my best to avoid looking at him too closely outside of quick glances because I knew that it’d confirm what I wanted to so vehemently deny. His messy orange hair frames his masculine features perfectly as he nears me, face coming even closer. I can feel his breath on me, gigantic body easily capable of dwarfing me. When he held me before I could feel that he was easily the most buff out of all his brothers and I wanted nothing more than for those warm eyes to look at me with adoration and love, and not the concern that was in them right now. 

“I’m glad you’re awake again,” he says softly, voice warming up my insides. I didn’t realise how much I loved hearing it until now. It sucks that he doesn’t talk as much as I do.

“Do you remember what happened?” he breathes. “You made Lucifer really mad.” He continues to speak but I couldn’t focus on anything he says, the desire to kiss him overwhelming all my senses. 

Internally, I laugh at myself. I was an idiot. Am an idiot. Why do I have to do this to myself? I was always trying to hang around him more and I love that he and Mammon hang out in my room all the time. I was already attracted to him before, staring at him in class or going down to the kitchen to make some food for the both of us, leaving it outside his room before continuing over to mine if he wasn’t there. I’m wasting my time pretending that I didn’t like him when I know deep down that I’m falling for him and it would only continue to happen as I continued this path.

“Rin? Hello?” I blink, suddenly seeing him right up in my face. Yelping, I panic which causes me to hit our heads together.

“Oh! Shit Beel sorry! I got a little distracted!” He touches his forehead, grimacing a little. 

“I didn’t know human skulls were so tough. I was just talking about how I was wondering if I would have been able to step in and save you if we switched places.” He looks to be worrying himself over this thought, a frown overtaking his handsome features. 

“I know you would be able to,” I say, refusing to let him think otherwise. “Give yourself some more credit big guy-I love you a lot for it.” Both our faces flush. 

“I-Sorry! My filter must have turned off. Normally I’m not that forward!” I squeak, taking a pillow from behind me and covering my face with it in embarrassment. 

“It’s fine, I don’t mind. I’m glad you think of me that way. But I did ask you as well what I can do to make it up to you.” 

_ Kiss me.  _

“Make a pact with me,” I ask, not verbalising my inner desire. 

“You’ve made two pacts now. I wanna hear why you want to make so many pacts,” he says, sitting back and crossing his arms. 

“Belphegor. I think that since you miss him so much if I make pacts with you guys he’ll listen to me and consider bringing him back.” As I say the words I decide that was a pretty good reason to. Why not? If it made Beel happy then I wouldn’t care.

“You want to do that? Not even Solomon has succeeded in something like that,” Beel says, staring at me for a second. 

“Alright. I’ll do it. I want Lucifer and Belphie to make up too.” I feel the pact join the ones up on my arm and he raises an eyebrow. 

“Did you feel that too?” he asks. 

“Mammon and Levi both did. My magic reacts differently to you guys so the pact feels a little off I think for you demons.” 

In all honesty, it was most likely because it was a pact that was only going one way instead of two ways as it normally would for a demon on demon pact. My body was rejecting them because I didn’t agree to make a pact with them so it was slightly alerting them but due to how subdued my magic was, it just felt strange to them. I wasn’t signing proper pacts with them and maybe in the future once we got to know each other better I could. 

That is if they didn’t hate me by then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for forgetting today is Saturday ;;;;  
> Also hurrah for more of rin's backstory i love her so much ;;;;;  
> Also! Anybody reading this fic uhm I forgot a chapter (chapter 3) so please go back and read it! It's titled "An Old Man's Jokes" and I'm so sorry for the mix-up - thankfully it might not have impacted the plot too much but the important thing is she managed to get mammon's pact!


	8. Claimed

* * *

_ If I knew it would be this warm in your embrace I would have taken it sooner. _

* * *

Rin somehow managed to convince me to sleep with her, practically begging me too as she whined “Beelzebub, please?!”, breaking out puppy eyes and I realised that she was too cute to reject. I knew that she felt bad about making me sleep on the floor now that she was awake to actually see it but I was afraid I’d crush her in my sleep. 

“No way!” she laughed. “My ex was about the same size as you. It’s fine! I promise!” She seemed to cheer up a lot more, a funny reaction to almost having been killed by Lucifer. 

I liked seeing this side of her a lot, but the mention of an ex made me a little sad. Was she still hung up on him? Did she still think about him all the time? Them all the time? She alluded to having more than one lover. Human lives were short and I knew that many humans only married once, maybe twice. Maybe she was an oddity? Would she even be interested in a demon? I shoved those thoughts out of my brain. She didn’t even show any interest in me. Not really.

“It’s going to be a little awkward I think but it’ll be fine right? It’s only one night after all,” she asks. 

“I normally sleep by myself or with Belphie if he decides he wants to cuddle. It should be okay.” She nods at my response, continuing to prepare for bed and humming happily. 

Sometimes she sings a little bit, catching me staring and then going back to humming, pale skin turning red as she blushes. I wished she’d sing a little more. Her voice was nice to hear. 

“Alright, I think we’re ready now. Anything I’m missing?” she asks, dark eyes peering up at me curiously. It was hard to believe this little thing was so ready to protect me from Lucifer. She barely looked like she could kill a spider.

“I…have a bit of a request.” She tilts her head, nodding for me to continue. The way she looked at me was so sweet and I felt a little better about asking. 

“Like you, I have nightmares sometimes. I was wondering if you’d hold my hand while we slept. You don’t have to if you don’t want to but…” I feel her pull me onto the bed, claiming the side away from the wall and clasping my hand in hers, smiling. 

“Of course I can Beel! Maybe we’ll both be able to sleep some if we do this?” she says softly, blowing gently on our joined hands. 

Her initial shyness towards me seemed to disappear as soon as I made the pact with her. She wasn’t as visibly anxious around me anymore or trying to run away, even though we did spend time together. It just felt more comfortable now, as though she stopped hiding from something.

I felt myself drowsing off in the warmth of the bed and her presence at my side. Maybe I’d be able to sleep easy for once. 

~~~

I watch as Beel drifts off to sleep, waiting for his breathing to steady. As soon as it did I move in a little closer to him, taking his face in excruciating detail, all the way down to the ginger eyelashes that brushed lightly against his cheek. It was painful to me how beautiful I found him and now that I was embracing my feelings for him they only seemed to blossom with every moment I had next to him. 

“Fuck…I didn’t think I’d fall in love with another demon.”

He didn’t stir at all, sleeping peacefully. I carefully get up, heading into the washroom to look at the mirror. 

I flipped the light on, glad to see that the lights of his washroom were a little duller and found the full-length mirror. Standing in front of it I raise my shirt, fully dropping my glamour. Scars began to appear on my body, names written in various scripts following suit. I watched them appear, counting them out in my head. 

1, 2, 3, 4, and lastly, 5. 

I watched as the last kanji wrote itself out, waiting patiently to see if a sixth name would appear. I thought I felt his name burn into my skin and I was right. An orange light glowed softly out of my skin, the shapes of letters becoming more clear as the tattoo created itself. Over my left hip sat Beelzebub, written in an archaic demon tongue with his sigil resting over the characters. 

Beelzebub is my next mate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof this chapter is *really* short   
> (also if you haven't already pls make sure you've read ch. 3 - An Old Man's Jokes bc i just added it last week since i mixed up my posting!)


	9. Two Sides of the Same Coin

* * *

_If being with you is meant to hurt like this, I think I’m glad I’m immortal._

* * *

Diavolo decided it’d be a great idea to host a giant ball, asking me personally to cook for the demons on the retreat so that I could give them a sample of human food. He locked the kitchen door for the time that I would be working, the cooks for him all ones from when I used to live in the Devildom. They all seemed excited to see me, lavishing me with attention before turning to carry out my orders. 

When cooking so much food, I liked to use my magic to make things more efficient. Locking the door meant that none of the brothers would be able to accidentally walk in - something I didn’t want to risk happening.

I watch the demons cook, playing back the events of the evening in my mind. Mammon, Levi, Beel and I had to get a photo of Lucifer sleeping to prove to Asmodeus that I was deserving of a pact with the Avatar of Lust. 

When we tried to enter Lucifer’s room we ended up being teleported down to Cerebus’ room insead, trapped when all of a sudden Henry 1.0 , Levi’s pet snake came up out of nowhere to attack us again. The first time it happened we had Solomon who used Asmodeus to charm the snake. I decided to give it a go, magic as weak as it was and didn’t expect anything to happen. Somehow, I managed to summon Asmodeus even more powerfully than Solomon was capable of and the look in his eyes made me realise that he knew something. 

I was afraid that this would happen. I had a feeling that of all the demons to find out who I was, Asmodeus might be the one who would be able to discover my secret the easiest. Our strong points in magic both fell under seduction or charming spells and we both carry Lust as our cardinal sin. He asked me to talk to him after dinner and now I was stuck worrying about it. 

“Your Highness,” a chef calls. “We’re done.” 

I look at the spread, a giant mass of thousands of dishes ready to be rolled out. This would hopefully be enough to satisfy the hungry demons. I approve the food and watch the tables roll out. 

Beel eyes the food like a child at the candy shop, drooling all over his lap as the rest of his brothers tease him. He doesn’t seem to mind, taking bites of everything and anything he could. I laugh to myself as I sit down between him and Mammon - they were the ones that made me feel the most comfortable at the dinner table so I tend to sit with them.

“Did you cook all of this?” he asks in between bites. 

“No, no. I just supervised for the most part. This is too much food for one person to make you know?” He continues to eat excitedly and I’m unsure if he even hears me.

“Well, at the very least ya chose some good recipes!” Mammon says, somehow manages to stuff his face like Beel. I watch happily as all the demons eat their food, even though I didn’t do all of the heavy lifting. I did manage to cook and prepare a little bit of everything so they were eating a tiny sample of my cooking, however little it may be.

I eat a bit too, glad to have the taste of human realm food in my mouth. I don’t get to eat too much of it, despite having the ability to go up to the human realm as much as I wanted. Beel and Mammon didn’t leave me alone for long enough and also would mildly panic if they couldn’t find me immediately. Cooking was a bit of a pain as Beel would constantly sneak into the kitchen and look too damn cute asking me for some and I just couldn’t resist. 

“You should eat a little more,” Beel suddenly says from beside me. “You barely eat at the House of Lamentation. Here,” he put something on his fork, putting it out in front of me. I look from the fork to him. 

“You sure?” 

“Take it before I try to eat it myself,” he says, very serious. 

I laugh at him, taking the bite. For some reason, it tasted even better coming from him. 

“Thank you Beel.”. He grunts in response before continuing to eat. 

At this the brothers all stare at us, cutlery frozen midair and mouths agape. It was almost comical seeing as some of them had food in their mouths or on utensils that still had to obey gravity, falling to the table. 

“Oi! Beel! Whaddya think you’re doin’ huh? Feedin’ Rin like that?” Mammon yells. The others scream their agreement, now all clamouring over me. I look over to Asmodeus who remains silent. 

I was so not looking forward to our conversation later. 

~~~

I go out to Diavolo’s garden, the one that wasn’t enchanted. It was gorgeous, a wide variety of flowers and plants growing in tandem with each other. A fountain sat in the middle of a stone pathway that took you all around the palace grounds, the water shining beautifully in the moon’s light. The night sky seemed even more beautiful down here thanks to how dark it was. Not even a candle lit up the night outside and I saw Asmodeus sitting on the fountain. Normally he’d be terrified of getting his hair wet but here he was, perched delicately on the side of the marble. 

“Asmodeus?” I call. 

The blond turns to me, a slight smile on his face. It didn’t seem to reach his eyes and almost looked strained. 

Asmodeus has a bit of a sad beauty to him. He had long, champagne blond hair that he sweeps over to one side of his face, features the epitome of a pretty boy. Tall, thin, long legs and fingers. Definitely the kind of boy that you’d see charming all the girls. Similar to me, he had pretty androgynous features on his face and the only indication that he was presenting as a male demon was the lack of breasts that most lust presenting demons would flaunt and a voice that had a quality that was the slightest bit more masculine than feminine. 

His beauty felt sad to me because it almost looked like a necessity. As the Avatar of Lust he has to be gorgeous. He has to be beautiful, or else he wouldn’t survive the urges that existed. The ones I knew he grappled with on a daily basis. The craving and desire to be loved. I was the same. I am the same. I knew that if I wasn’t born as beautiful as I was I would have died a long, long time ago, succumbing to the darkness that threatens to swallow me up day after day when not in love or lust.

“When you summoned me this evening, something felt off,” he begins, his normally light voice absent of all the flirtatiousness he usually gives it. It was lower, more serious. 

“I couldn’t place it until I thought about it a little more.” He turns to me fully, patting the spot next to him on the fountain. I join him, giving him space just in case he wants it. 

“You know, demons can sense the sins of humans. Or, to put it clearer, we can see the sin that you humans have at the forefront of their being. All humans sin and indulge in all seven of the cardinal sins, but one or two usually stand out. I didn’t know why you were able to summon me so easily but after you summoned me I felt something in you that was so familiar to me.” He takes my hands in his lightly, making me look at him. His eyes were positively glowing in the dark light, the red-yellow irises boring into me. 

“Your cardinal sin is lust, isn’t it?” he asks. He still thought I was a human. Thank god.

“I-” 

“Silly me, I’m getting ahead of myself. Of course you wouldn’t know. You’re a human.” He put my hands down. “I just get the sense that maybe, Lust is your cardinal sin.” 

“Wait! I’m not calling you a whore or anything-” He says suddenly, trying to explain himself. The name bites me harshly, the word echoing in my brain.

_Hell’s Whore._

“Not that there’s anything wrong with having sex, as the Avatar of Lust I love it! But I know you humans are a little sensitive to that term. I just…thought that we could relate on some level,” he ends quietly. 

“Asmodeus? What do you mean?” 

“It’s just…you get along with my brothers, they’ve all found some way to hang out with you. Except for Lucifer. You two haven’t really talked since he called you into his study to apologise but Lucifer’s just like that with everyone really. He means well but he’s hard to get used to. You read books with Satan and discuss magic theory, play games and read or watch that manga stuff Levi likes so much and Beel and Mammon are practically attached at the hip to you.

“Humans normally look at my sin and think it’s disgusting or they’re above it, even though they indulge in it so much, even more than greed I think. Even my brothers reduce me to nothing but a lusty demon. I mean they aren’t wrong but still, I’m more than that you know.” He suddenly stops rambling, a broken laugh leaving his perfect lips. 

“Sorry. I don’t know why I’m ranting to some human. It’s not as though you understand.”

“I do Asmo, I get it.” He looks at me incredulously, pretty eyes open in shock.

“I..hm. My cardinal sin I would have to say is Lust. I lust a lot, more than the normal human. I understand what you’re saying.” I swing my legs, trying to figure out what I want to tell him. I guess oversharing with the demon brothers was more fun than I initially thought it to be. 

“When I was younger, I used to be a prostitute. I slept with anyone and everyone to make some cash. Eventually, I thought that’s what I wanted. To have sex all the time. I went clubbing all the time and fucked as many people I could. Of course, that kinda stuff makes you look dirty, especially to other humans. As I got a little older I realised that I wasn’t in love with having sex. I just…I craved the intimacy sex gave me. 

“Up until I got married for the first time, I thought that sex was enough for me. When I met my husband, he loved me in such a different way than the clients did. It was so much warmer and kinder. I figured out that that’s what I wanted to live with for the rest of my life, so I’ve been chasing it for as long as I can remember.” I look into the dark water of the fountain, waiting for him to respond. 

I know what he feels. That desperate, clawing loneliness that no amount of sex could fill. It permeated every inch of my being and made me want to die more than once. I could only find happiness when it was in the arms of a lover and as a result, I clung to the arm of countless men. Of that number, I only truly married a handful. The others were marriages of conveniences, relationships only official on a piece of paper that meant nothing to me. I didn’t even keep their rings, pawning them off to make money as soon as they died. 

The few that I truly loved were the special ones. Those were the ones that placated my lust, no, my desire to love and be loved. Those were the ones that had the honour of marking my body for the rest of my life, names like ink against paper on my skin. They would always be a part of my life. Forever. 

“I’m not like that!” he exclaims suddenly. “Why would I be sad that I have so much sex? I’m the Avatar of Lust! I could have anyone I want.” I shake my head. 

“Asmodeus, how many times have you been in love? Truly?” He falls silent at my question. 

“I understand what you’re saying but I think you’re lying to yourself and you know you are. It’s okay to admit that you aren’t fully satisfied.” A bitter smile marrs his face. 

“How does some human get it more than I do? More than the brothers I fell with? You’re right-I’m sick of this. I’m sick of constantly going from bed to bed. But what can I do? I’m the Avatar of Lust, not the Avatar of Long Lasting Relationships.” I laugh at the jest he makes, hoping to cheer him up. 

“Asmodeus, I think you know what I’m getting at though. Just because you want to have a lot of sex doesn’t mean you gotta tie yourself down. I’d argue that you just want someone to look at you as more than somebody to warm your bed. I know how much that hurts. To be reduced to nothing more than something fun to play with.” 

“You’re right…I just wish that more people could see that. I don’t like being simplified to my sin.” 

“If that’s the case then why do you bully Mammon so much? Look at him-you guys constantly hound him for stealin’ and shit.” He grimaces, knowing I had a point. 

“Fine. You’re right.” He looks a little happier now, smiling at me. 

“Wow, I didn’t know that you were pretty AND smart.” I tap the tip of his nose. 

“Sorry, who am I talking to right now Asmo? You’ve got a lot of brains under that perfect haircut of yours! Honestly, I think that you’re a lot of fun. We just haven’t had a lot of time to spend together because Mammon thinks you’ll be a ‘bad influence’ on me. As if! You’re a great influence!” 

“If that’s the case then I need you to come with me on a shopping trip! You’re so pretty, I have so many outfits I want to put you in!” He claps happily, and I remembered that we both had that habit. 

He spins me around, dancing around the fountain with a 1-2-3 waltz step. I catch on quickly, laughing with him as we dance around the fountain. Asmo was a charming demon for sure, but I didn’t care about the front he put up. As someone who had the same mentality as him, I knew it came from a place of fear that you wouldn’t be loved as an actual person, relying on your looks or sexual prowess to get you through it all. I like this side of him, much, much better. 

~~~

I stood in my bedroom, spinning around as I tried to find a good outfit for today. Asmo wanted me to come shopping with me and was quite insistent on me dressing my best. I guess he was trying to see how much work he’d have to do. Lucky for him, I was a pretty trendy person, or so I like to think. 

I wanted to stay simple so I decided on something comfy but cute. My top was a simple black long sleeved tee with a graphic on the chest tucked into a high waisted white skater skirt, black tights going into simple heels. I liked to keep my makeup simple but today I decided to add a simple shimmery eyeliner and use a shiny red lipstick instead of a matte one, doing a simple winged eyeliner as per usual to finish the look as well as mascara. Asmo said he’d pay so I didn’t bother with a wallet, running out of my room and straight into Beel. 

Walking into him was always like walking into a wall. Beel worked out so much that he was pretty much a solid mass of muscle and running into him never elicited a response from him. And I’d done it a lot. For someone his size he sure was a sneaky motherfucker. 

“Rin? Why are you all dressed up? Woah, I forgot you had so much hair,” he says, looking at the dark locks curiously. 

I run a finger through my hair. I tried straightening it for once, borrowing Asmo’s straightener but with how straight it was it just looked the same. I kept my hair up most of the time for class so this was one of the few times Beel had seen it at its full length, reaching just past my waist. 

“Asmo said he wanted to go out and shop today! I didn’t want to be outdone by him so I got all ready for him!” I did a quick spin for Beel, grinning. 

“Do I look cute?” I asked. 

“Very,” he replies instantly. I stiffen, not expecting a response back from him that quickly. 

“I-oh.” Ever since embracing I had feelings for him, I kept getting flustered by him just looking at me differently. It was getting annoying for me at this point but Beel never seemed to mind. I cover my face with my hands, careful about the makeup. 

“Thank you Beel.” He reaches for one of them, taking it from me and inspecting the sleeve. 

“Is it supposed to be this long?” I nod, waving the sleeve around. 

“It covers my whole hand! It’s like sweater paws!” I bat at him playfully, making him chuckle. 

“You look really nice,” he says again earnestly. “I didn’t know you dressed up like that.” 

“I haven’t really had a reason too right? I’m glad you think I look nice.”

“Rin! Are you read-oh my goodness you look adorable!” I hear heels clicking as Asmo runs toward me, looking equally as, if not, better than me. 

He seemed to be in a more masculine mood today, wearing a fitted pastel blue shirt dress tucked into black jeans and a simple leather jacket. His boots gave him about an inch of height whereas I had an extra three inches. Despite that, I was still the smallest one here. 

“Beel! She looks so cute doesn’t she?” Beel nods again, making Asmo squeal in delight as I grab him, face turning redder by the minute.

“Asmo, he already said that, come on let’s go.” I drag him with me, feeling Beel’s gaze on my back. 

~~~

“You like Beel don’t you?” Asmo says casually.

We finished shopping for the day, bags surrounding our feet as we stopped in a park for a late lunch. I had no idea how long it’d been since we left the house but it was fun to do something this trivial. I hadn’t done anything like this for a long time. 

“Yeah…” There was no point in keeping it from him. 

“I can see why. He’s handsome, jacked, has a sexy voice and he’s nice! He’s a little dense sometimes but that adds to his attractiveness. Don’t you think?”

“I think you guys are too mean to each other. Beel’s not dense. I like to think he just doesn’t want to assume anything. He’s more emotionally mature than y’all are that’s for sure. He’s the only one that can tell I’m upset about something as soon as it happens. Mammon’s a close second.” 

“Mammon’s head over heels for you too,” he picks at his nails as he speaks, seeming almost bored at the reveal of this fact. 

“I-you think?!”

“Maybe you’re the dense one! It’s obvious to all of us that Mammon likes you!” I bite my lip. 

“Now I feel bad Asmo!” I whine. “I don’t like him that way!” 

“It’s fine! He’ll understand. He’s not like Lucifer. Lucifer tends to be a little…forceful with his affections. Mammon isn’t. He probably won’t say anything to Beel if you were to date him. As much as we call him a scumbag, he’s always put our happiness first when it comes to important things. Beel’s the same way.” 

“Aw man. Asmo, what do I do?” Asmo waves off my concern. 

“Just see how things go. Don’t think too hard, you’ll get wrinkles.” He taps my head. 

“I’d be happy if you were to join our little family though Rin,” he says suddenly. “I know the others think so too. Except for Lucifer. I don’t know what he’s thinking half the time. I think you’re a good match for my little brother if you were to pursue him.” I pout at his words, hugging him.

“Asmo! Thank you! That’s the nicest thing any demon could have said to me! Besides I love you. You know what I mean! I’m glad we’re getting to spend more time together now!” He hugs me back, patting my back reassuringly. 

“I do. I’m just glad that I have someone else in this house that also understands and gets what I’m going through sometimes. It’s tough going through it myself sometimes. Beel’s a good listener and all but sometimes I don’t think he actually understands what I’m getting at when I rant at him.” I nod. 

“Yeah, I get it. I’m glad you talked to me a couple of nights ago. If it weren’t for that I think it would have taken us a while to get along this well. Now we’re like two pieces in a horny puzzle!” He laughs, a pretty twinkling sound ringing through the air.

“You’re not wrong. Now, I have something special to offer you. Stand up!” I do as he asks, putting my arms behind my back as I wait. 

“You wanted a pact with me right?” My eyes light up as I realise what he’s about to suggest. 

“Seriously?! You’ll sign a pact with me?!” He grins.

“Of course! Not only was the magic you were able to awaken in me absolutely titillating, but we get along so well! It’d be a shame if we didn’t sign a pact together. The others told me that signing a pact with you feels a little strange though so I’m ready for whatever that meant!” 

“Thank you Asmo!” I hug him tightly again, making him laugh as he pushes me back, beginning to sign the pact.

As soon as it finishes, he goes to immediately look for it, manhandling me until I pull up my sleeve for him to see. All of the pacts that I was collecting were forming a ring around my bicep. It felt almost like a symbol for not just me, but also the brothers. They would always be together, connected in the same way they were on my arm. 

Shit. If they found out who I really was this could really pose a problem. 

~~~

Back at the house, Lucifer was holed up in his study again, looking back over the file that Diavolo gave him for Rin when he chose her. He remembered the conversation they had, something feeling a little off about it. Just as he thought so, Diavolo comes in through the door, grinning at the Avatar of Pride. 

“Lucifer! Good to see you! What are you up to?” Diavolo loops around Lucifer’s desk, eyeing the paper in his gloved hand. 

“Ah, Rin’s file. Find anything interesting about it?”

“More like _what_ can I find. This file is so sparse of information Diavolo. I don’t understand. Don’t humans keep extensive records of their offspring? The most personal thing we have here is a last name but up in the human realm I can’t find anything related to it except for an older woman. I tried to talk to her but she brushed me off, telling me that she was trying to visit her father’s grave.” Lucifer was getting annoyed. Already, that human’s insolence annoyed him today and now he was stuck at square one. 

Rin was getting increasingly cocky as the days passed. She no longer respected him fully the same way she did when she first arrived. After gaining the favour of his brothers, she didn’t fear him. She did little acts of defiance such as asking him to repeat himself or telling him to “keep his balls in check before she ate them”. Quite a bit more vulgar than he expected her to be. 

Not only that but the way she and Beel’’s relationship was progressing worried him. It was clear that the two were exploring different feelings towards each on their own time judging by the way they stole glances at each other when nobody was looking. Nobody but Lucifer. 

“It’s nothing to be worried about Lucifer. Do you seriously think I’d put you and your brothers in danger?” Diavolo says jovially, a smile on his face.

Lucifer bites back a comment about Lilith, knowing that it’d start a fight between the two. He wasn’t going to bite the hand that fed him, not just yet. Besides, there was the matter of Belphegor. If he pissed Diavolo off now who knew what he’d do if he somehow found out about the demon being kept in the attic. 

“What do you think of her Lucifer?” Diavolo asks. “She’s pretty isn’t she?” A slightly lecherous tone entered Diavolo’s words. 

“I suppose she is,” he says, wondering where Diavolo was going with it. 

“She reminds me of Aiya. Remember her Lucifer?” Lucifer stiffens.

**_( TW // dubcon mentions)_ **

“O-Of course I do my Lord. I don’t recall seeing her face though.” Diavolo nods. 

“Of course you didn’t. Aiya was ashamed of her position. Lord Luciel was the one that convinced her to go to you all. All for a demon’s favour.” Lucifer’s jaw clenched at the name. Lord Luciel changed his name to be similar to Lucifer’s as a way to taunt both him and God. 

“What do you mean?” Diavolo turns back to his right-hand man, smile becoming unnerving.

“Aiya didn’t come to you willingly. Well, she did for a price. She told the three of us, Lord Luciel, myself, and Luciel’s brother that if we would each give her one favour she’d help you all out.”

“She didn’t want to be there?” Lucifer begins to feel sick to his stomach, unsure if he wants to hear the answer to his question. Sure he was a demon now but back then, he was still an angel. He had values that he held. He had pride. 

“Not exactly. At first when Luciel came to her, asking her to sleep with you seven to deal with all of your heats. She refused, saying it’d be too hard on her body because you had all just fallen from heaven. You know how tough it was for you all right? Angels who had never felt that need before suddenly feeling it for the first time-your sins were just forming as well.” 

“He’s right Lucifer.” A new voice appears from behind Diavolo. “My wife wasn’t happy about it at first.” 

“Lord Luciel!” Lucifer exclaims, not expecting to see the demon here. 

The demon was older than Diavolo by a millennia or two, ruling over a different quadrant of Hell. He stood at the same height as Lucifer, long dark red locks held by a bow in a ponytail. A red and black suit covered his body, fitting well enough that you could see all the contours of his muscle. His cardinal sin is Wrath, the red he wears said to be dye made of the blood of those he killed and tortured, contrasting his pale skin. Gold eyes roam the office, landing on Lucifer with a dirty smirk.

He was the one that married Aiya, a demon born from the human realm known for her ability to walk between the thin line of demon and human. Countless a tale was spun about her beauty, captivating most anyone she met eyes with. He didn’t know much else, other than she was good at her job. Lucifer always assumed that she was okay with what she did, her cardinal sin being Lust. 

“Aiya wasn’t exactly offended by what I offered. You see, at the time she was only 3000 years old, practically an infant compared to Diavolo and I. She was married twice by the time I married her, but as you know, lots of the higher up demons used her as well. We all loved her, adored her beauty. Diavolo and I shared her on many occasions and she never complained.

“When you all fell, she was summoned to care for you all initially. You remember that. Her healing magic is amazing. Nothing can rival it. She took very good care of you. When your heat cycles came, we knew that she’d be the only creature that could remedy your suffering brothers. After all, pureborn demons or succubi would die with prolonged contact with you seven. With her, her human origins could withstand it. The normal whores wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

“That’s why you called her Hell’s Whore…” Lucifer said, finally making the connection between the demon that bedded him and the creature named Aiya. Was she really nothing more than a sextoy for Hell’s higher-ups when she was living here?

“You should have seen the scars she was given after your sessions with her. Some of them were the typical ones that come with every lover, but some of them were a result of your holiness injuring her. You hadn’t fully shifted until after the heat after all, remember?” Luciel taunted. He must have known this was driving Lucifer wild. 

He hated thinking about it. Thinking about what happened for that month. He and his brothers went through their first heat ever, something so painful for angels like them. All of them lost their inhibitions, indulging themselves fully in their sins to the creature that so kindly offered her services to them. 

He remembered how sweet her voice was in his ear, telling him that it was okay, that his brothers would be okay. She reassured them all, giving her all to them to help them out as much as she could. He never knew that she did it for payment. And that if it weren’t for that payment she wouldn’t have been there. 

**_(dubcon mention end)_ **

“Oh, is this a photo of the exchange student?” Luciel grabs the file from him, skimming through it. 

“She looks like an interesting human. I hope that she isn’t too much of a handful.” He put the file back on Lucifer’s desk. 

“It’s fine,” Lucifer manages through gritted teeth. “I apologise, but is there a reason two demon lords are in my office today? I thought I had no meetings with you today Diavolo.” 

“You don’t,” Diavolo replies simply. “I just wanted to check up on you and Luciel was curious to see how the student was getting along. If that’s the case, then see you at class Lucifer.” Diavolo turned to leave before Lucifer spoke again. 

“Wait. Where is Aiya?” he asks. If she was still around, maybe she could give him answers. 

“Aiya?” Luciel strides back over to Lucifer, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“Once she divorced me, she told me she wouldn’t set foot back here for as long as she could manage. Where she is is anybody’s guess. It’s quite hard to track down a crafty little fox like her. She’s a smart demon, that wife of mine,” he chuckles. Luciel was infamous for never marrying after Aiya, the rumours saying that he fell in love with her truly after she left and nobody could replace her in his heart. 

“If she wants to talk to you, she’ll come back. Until then old buddy.” 

Lucifer stands in his office, hands balling into fists. He had to find Aiya.

Aiya knows what happened to Lilith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *vibrates aggressively in plot*  
> Oh! I also wanted to mention that the little line at the beginning of the chapter is mildly important - the last chapter note I'll explain it or maybe I'll explain it on my blog for anybody curious :))


	10. Broken Glass

* * *

_ Was your love too much to ask for? _

* * *

I walk back in with Asmo, a familiar scent hitting my nose. 

_ No- _

“Lord Luciel!” I hear Asmo cry from beside me, forcing my head down in a bow. “I didn’t think you’d be visiting! You stay in your palace so much more often than Lord Diavolo.” A chuckle I hadn’t expected to hear so soon rang crudely in my ears. 

“Asmodeus, lovely to see you,” he drawls. I stand back up, meeting the golden eyes of Luciel.

“Is this the human exchange student?” His hand cups my face, nails scratching lightly against my skin. I feel my heart pound against my chest. “Even cuter in person,” he said. 

I ignore him, keeping my eyes on the ground as he tries to get my attention.

“Oh? Do you not have any manners?” He rap his knuckles against the side of my head. “Anybody home?” I bite my tongue, resisting the urge to pick him up and throw him into the wall.

“She’s just a human my lord. They aren’t always the brightest.” I could hear Asmo trying to defend me but failing miserably. I’d have to chew him out later for that jab at my intelligence.

“I thought Diavolo would choose a brighter one. I guess he disappointed me in that regard.” 

“I’m able to keep up with the demons in class luckily your lordship,” I reply. 

“My, so she does speak!” He leans down closer to me. “It’d do you good to not be so insolent dear mouse.” I smirk, returning his challenge. 

“My, I’d like to think of myself as more of a fox sir, not a mouse.”

“Foxes are quite cunning creatures don’t you think? Hard to pin down and when you see one they tend to run,” he responds. 

“Of course. They have a natural aversion to people after all. Won’t find one near you any time soon.” He laughs. 

“Quite the contrary. See, I used to have a darling little fox of my own for a while. She was gorgeous. Too bad it had to run away.” 

“How tragic. I hope you find her one day.” He rests a hand on my shoulder. 

“I think I have.” I shrug his grasp off, ducking behind him to go to my room. I didn’t want to deal with him for a second more. 

“Rin!” I had barely made it to my room when Lucifer storms in, looking absolutely furious. 

“Lord Luciel told me you just disrespected him in front of Asmodeus!”

“What of it?” I flip him off, already pissed at having to talk to Luciel when I didn’t want to. 

“Get out of my hair. I’m not willing to deal with this right now.” He grabs my wrist, yanking me off the bed. 

“You will go back out there and  **apologise,** ” he growls, pulling me along with him. 

“I will do no such thing!” I scream, taking my arm out of his hold. “I won’t talk to that asshole!” I realise I slipped up. I couldn’t let him think I knew him from before. 

“The first thing he says to me when he meets me is that I’m fucking stupid?! NO! I’m not dealing with that! Not at all!” 

“You will apologise and you will like it.” 

“You can’t lay a fucking hand on me Mr. I’m-So-Important! If you hurt me Diavolo’s fucked and you know it! You’re so much more pissy than usual!”

I open the window of my room, judging the jump. There was a bit of a gable underneath my window that I could say I landed on before landing on the ground to avoid too many questions of how I managed to jump without breaking my legs. 

“Get back to sucking some higher up’s dick!” I jump out, landing in the backyard of the House of Lamentation. 

“Boo!” My body goes to find the source of the sound, yelping in surprise when I meet Luciel’s face again. 

“Holy fucking shit leave me alone!” I yell, trying to back away. He grabs my shoulders and I try to wrestle myself out of his grasp, failing as he only tightens his grip.

“Aiya, Aiya! Calm down for a second!” he hisses. “Let’s just talk for a minute.” 

“I don’t WANT to talk to you right now!” I felt myself dangerously close to tears and he must have noticed. The look on his face changed to his usual smugness to concern. I rarely saw that look. 

“It’s okay. I charmed the two of us. They won’t see us talking,” he reassures me, or tries to. 

“Oh my darling…” He sweeps me into a hug, pulling me against his lithe body. “I’ve missed you so much.” I feel myself warming up in his embrace, tears beginning to freely fall much to my angered annoyance.

“Why! Why are you here?!” I scream weakly, wishing I had the strength to push him off of me. “Haven’t you tormented me enough?!” 

“I had to see you. I knew that you’d want to see me too, right?” He draws back, eyes searching my face for any semblance of love. “Right?” he asks again. I could hear the desperate tint to his words, something that sounded so foreign from his trap.

“No. I don’t want to see you again.” 

“Don’t you miss me? Not at all?” I step out of his grasp, holding my arms. 

“No I don't! It’s thanks to you that my heart’s all torn up right now! I’ve never been the same since you!” I fall to my knees, watching the leaves from the trees spin around as I try to ground myself.

“It’s your damn fault,” I say softer. 

After marrying and divorcing Luciel, I told myself I’d never love another demon. I couldn’t. It hurt too much, more than I thought it would. And yet, Beelzebub strode into my life, a grumpy mess of hunger and smiles. I was desperate to tell myself that I didn’t love Beel. I couldn’t love him. And yet, here I was. Hopelessly in love with Beel. Hopelessly chasing Luciel’s love. I’d never get it. Ever.

“Why?” I start. “Why didn’t you love me?” His eyes widened at my question. 

“I loved you, what are you talking about?” I run over, pulling him down to my height and fisting the collar of his shirt. 

“No you didn’t! You violated our pact! You lied to me, straight through those damn fucking teeth of yours! I told you I’d do ANYTHING for you!  **Anything!** And what’d you do? You shat it all back in my fucking face!” I yell harshly, getting dizzy with anger. I held onto him tighter, afraid I’d collapse if I didn’t.

“What’s this pact mark that you gave me mean then huh?” I point at the marking covered by my stockings, the pact that he gave me. “Why did you even sign the damn thing?!”

“You lied to me and told me you loved me! You fucked me and told me you loved me! You passed me around to all your demon buddies, telling me that you loved me the whole time! Why?! WHY?! I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU DEMON OF A DEMON!” My voice scratches against my throat, almost coughing at the intensity of my words. He didn’t respond, letting me yell and pant in frustration. 

“Argh!” I shove him back into the ground, giving a solid kick to his stomach as a bonus. 

“I was fucking right. Nobody after Park could compare. I was right to stay with the humans. At least when they tell me they love me, they fucking mean it.” I raise my hand, preparing to undo the spell when I feel him hug my waist. 

“I’m sorry,” he says softly. “I’m sorry things had to turn out this way.” An apology. How many times had I heard one? Far too little for it to matter. 

“You used me,” I spit. “You didn’t love me until I left you. Until you realised what you lost. I loved you with everything that I was you asshole and you didn’t care. I’m tired. I don’t want to talk about this.” My head feels woozy and I will myself not to collapse. Not again.

“Aiya, please listen to me. Just for a second,” he implores. I scoff. 

“Gettin’ desperate now, huh? Well, darlin’, I guess I could spare you a second.” I cross my arms, the scowl on my face telling him to get on with it.

“Can you spare a kiss?” 

“What-mmf!” He stands up, kissing me hard. I feel him try to force my mouth open, tongue trying to get through my teeth when I shove him backwards again.

“Piss off asshole. Go meet God,” I curse, breaking his spell and heading back to the House of Lamentation. 

~~~

“She what?!” Mammon yells after Lucifer told him where Rin went. “Out the fuckin’ window?! And you didn’t try to stop her?!” 

“If she’s a suicidal idiot then leave her be. I’m getting annoyed with the way she’s been acting. Now you can leave me alone Mammon.” The second oldest demon scoffs, heading out of Lucifer’s study and into Rin’s room. 

“That damn human doesn’t know how to fuckin’ think does she?” 

He goes to the open window, trying to see if he can spot her. His eyes light up when he does, seeing her walking back towards the house angrily. After a few moments she walks into the room, totally ignoring him as she flops down onto her bed, screaming into the mattress. 

“Oi, Rin! What’s gotcha so down?” His tone is a little artificially light, trying to cheer her up. 

“Can it Mammon. I’m not in the mood,” she replies, voice muffled by the mattress. 

“C’mon! Ya can tell good ol’ Mammon what’s goin’ on cantcha?” She raises her upper body suddenly, staring at him through reddened eyes. 

“Oh.”

She flops back down, sobs beginning to pierce through the silence of the room.

“It hurts so much Mammon!” she yells into the mattress suddenly. “I’m in so much fuckin’ pain and I don’t know what to do!” 

“Shh, shh it’ll be okay.” He gathers her up in his arms, pulling her into his chest and glad to see she wasn’t resisting. It’d been a while since he had to console his brothers in such a manner but that doesn’t mean he forgot how to do it.

“Why dontcha tell me what’s wrong, huh?” he asks gently, not minding that she was crying all over his shirt. 

“My heart hurts so much Mammon,” she sobs into his chest. “It hurts so, so much!”

“How come?” he prods gently. He hates this, hates the fact that she was crying in his arms and he couldn’t do anything to make her feel better. 

“I-I-” She tries to say something but words seem to be totally failing her as she just continues to cry, hiccuping sobs occupying her throat. 

“It’s alright, I’m here ya know. I’ll listen,” he reassures her, barely audible over her cries. 

“Did Lucifer say somethin’ to ya?” He knew that Lucifer could be totally tone deaf sometimes but he didn’t know it was this bad. 

Mammon uses a bit of magic to close the door without getting up, knowing that she probably didn’t want to be so easily walked in on like this. As soon as the door closes she starts to cry even harder, now shaking in his arms.

He thinks back to when she passed out after seeing Levi’s true form. A part of him wanted her to just do that again, fall unconscious so that he didn’t have to watch her in so much pain in front of him. Another part of him was glad that it was his arms she fell into. She decided he was good enough for her to cry to, good enough to share this vulnerability. 

He was good enough. 

“Rin?” Beel pokes his head into the door, most likely because he heard her crying. He looks from Mammon to her, narrowing his eyes at his brother.

“Mammon? Did you say something to her?” the bigger demon seemed ready to throw down with Mammon, making him shake his head aggressively to avoid getting attacked. 

“No! Beel, I don’t know what happened! Honest! Lucifer told me she jumped out the window and looked super pissed and told me to let her die if she was so intent on it! I looked for her and then she came back cryin’ and yellin’ about how much her heart hurts! Do you think humans can die from heartbreak?!” Mammon panics, hand continuing to rub her back reassuringly. She continues to cry, and he found himself wondering if she’d cry all her water out.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” his younger brother replies, closing the door after him and coming closer to the pair on the bed. “Humans die for silly reasons all the time, right?” 

“Beel! That’s not good! What if Rin dies?!” Beel looks concerned at this statement, biting his lip.

“We can’t ask Lucifer for help if he’s angry can we? Should we try Satan?” he suggests, eyes going back to the pile that was Rin in Mammon’s lap. 

“Beel?” Her sobs stop for half a second as her watery eyes manage to focus on the large demon. He kneels down beside her, running his hand through her hair and smiling at her. 

“Yeah, it’s me.”. Mammon breathes a sigh of relief at the sound of her crying stopping, now replaced with hiccuping breaths. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” 

“Am I deserving of love?” she asks shakily. “Am I too awful of a person to deserve it?” 

“No!” Beel says with conviction. “No. You’re a great person.” She shakes her head. 

“I’m such an awful person. You two don’t know. I’m terrible!” Her eyes begin to water again as she manages to put herself into another crying fit, this time quieter. She must not have enough energy to cry properly again.

“Beel,” she says tiredly, tears slightly impeding her speech. “Can I take a nap with you please? Crying makes me tired.” Beel laughs a bit, seeming to try to cheer her up. 

“Rin, you’re still crying.” She smiles a little at his jab.

“I know. Can I?” Beel looks at his older brother with his arms out, unsure if Mammon would pass her over. Mammon sighs, standing up and giving her to Beel. 

“If ya make her more upset I’m gonna punish you harder than Lucifer would,” he threatens, watching as Beel readjusts her so that she could cuddle up to his chest. 

“I know. Thanks.” Beel leaves the room with her in his arms, talking to her softly. 

Of course he’d know how to deal with her like this; he dealt with her when she was perfectly unconscious for days. Beel was always good at the more emotional things, willing to listen to the others whenever they wanted to rant. Of course she’d choose Beel over Mammon. 

Guess he wasn’t good enough. 

~~~

“Do you want to tell me why you’re crying?” Beel tries. Mammon must have tried this as well but she probably didn’t respond well to it. 

She shakes her head, a lot calmer now that she was in his bed and arms, staying close to him. 

“I don’t,” she croaks. “I just want to stay here like this until I fall asleep.” He nods, glad that he already ate a bunch before this. He can stay with her longer now.

He tightens his hold on her slightly and she responds by moving in closer to his chest, burying her face in the black fabric of his shirt. 

“You make me feel so safe,” she says drowsily. “I like it.” 

“I’m glad you feel that way.” Truth be told, it made him ecstatic. He was glad she was able to find comfort in his presence despite their first interactions being so rough. 

“Beel,” she started suddenly. “I like you a lot.” His eyes widened at her statement. “You’re a great friend. I’m glad I met you. Thank you for helping me out.” Oh. 

“Mammon helped you too right?” She nods, the movement tickling him a little as her hair brushed against him. 

“He helped a lot. I’m gonna buy him a present.” Her eyes were half open now, closing every once in a while. “Beel, do you want a gift?” He shakes his head. 

“I’m fine.” She suddenly hugs him, cuddling him sleepily. 

“Stay with me? Please?” He rests his head on top of her chin, wrapping his arms around her. 

“Of course.” 

~~

I woke up in a bundle of warmth, Beel’s scent filling my nose. It was comforting. The other demon seemed to not be here anymore, most likely off to go raid the fridge. 

My head still feels fuzzy from all the crying I did and I went to the washroom to wash it off, wincing at how tired I looked. If anything, I looked more like the Avatar of Sloth now. The cold water helped me wake up a little more as I managed to clean the snot and dried tears off my face, plush towel wiping away most of the physical reminders of my little fit. 

A knock sounds on the door and I open it, seeing Mammon carrying a couple bags of stuff. 

“Oh! Rin! You’re awake?” He let himself into the room, closing the door and sitting on Beel’s bed. “I gotcha some things. Humans like presents right?” 

“Mammon, I don’t think that’s a species exclusive thing. It comes down to the person. What’d you get?” My voice felt thick in my throat, making me clear it before I could talk more. “Thanks for thinkin’ a’ me.” I hug him before going to inspect the things in the bag. 

“Of course I knew that! Just makin’ sure that…okay I have no excuse this time,” he says sadly. I laughed, making him seem to perk up a bit. 

“You and Beel eat a lot together so I picked out some of his favourite snacks since you’ve been willing to eat those things, and I managed to get some human snacks from some witches I had a pact with.” I frown. Mammon told me before that he had pacts with witches but the smell that came off him sometimes after visiting them worried me. 

“What did they ask for as payment Mams?” I ask, hoping the usage of a nickname would elicit a response. 

“None of your business.” His voice sounds a little too sharp for my liking. Witches were never inherently cruel but it seemed that the ones he had might be a little on the evil side. 

“I mean, I’m just wondering. After all, since you have a pact with them they can force you ‘to anythin’ right? I’d feel really bad doin’ that myself so that’s why I don’t.” I already knew the answer. If they invoked the power of the pact, nothing he said would matter. 

“It’s fine. I’ve been through worse,” he ends. I bite my lip, leaning into him as I take one of the Devildom snacks. 

“Can I at least know the name of the coven? It’d make me feel better to know where you disappear off to sometimes.”

“Why? It’s not like you can do anything.” I frown. 

“Do you have lots of witch pacts?’ He shakes his head. “Then it’s only that one?” A nod. Good. It won’t be hard then to hunt down the one coven that has a pact with Mammon. 

“I came here to talk about you! Not me! Ya know how much ya scared me just cryin’ and screamin’ like that after Lucifer told me ya jumped out a window?!” he yells, shaking me by the shoulders. 

“Mammon!” I whine. “Stoop! I’m sorry!” 

“Ya better be! Dumbass human!” I feel my nose tingle, pinching the bridge of it. 

“Dontcha dare fuckin’ cry again I swear to god-” I say to myself. 

“Ack! I’m sorry! I forgot!” He pulls me into another hug, rubbing my back. “Sorry!” I shake my head. 

“It’s fine. I’m just feeling the slightest bit extra emotional you know?” 

“I got it. Now, can ya tell me why you were cryin’?” I sigh. 

“I just…guess that I wasn’ as ready as I thought to think about somebody from my past. Jus’, this gian’ mass a’ bad mem’ries an’ sad feelin’s overwhelmed me an’ I guess I never had time to process ‘em ‘til now.” I smile sadly. “Sorry for doin’ that to ya though.” I could feel my words getting lazier and lazier as I clipped their syllables. Soon enough I’d only be saying half a sentence to get my point across. 

“Thanks again for lookin’ out for me though. I appreciate it. I hope there’s something I can do to pay you back. You aren’t a scumbag, as much as your brothers might claim it.” 

“H-hey! I just didn’t wantcha dyin’ on my watch! Lucifer would kill me, as much as he says that he doesn’t care if you die or not.” I ruffle his hair. 

“Whatever Mams. I know you care and that’s the most important part. It’s been a while since I’ve had someone lookin’ out for me.” 

“You’re a weak human, of course I gotta look out for ya,” he mutters. 

“Mm. I have the feelin’ everythin’ will be alright if you’re on my side,” I reply, leaning closer to him. 


	11. Hunting Season

* * *

_You should have known you’d never be able to tame a wild beast like me._

* * *

A few days had passed since then. I managed to convince Diavolo to let me take a week off to go to the human realm, citing my two mental breakdowns as the reason for me to go and take a break. In preparation for that day, I stopped taking my medication, simply strengthening my glamour to avoid being found out. 

I was now back in my little wooden house on the first day of the break, sending familiars and messages out to the Reids to get information on the coven Mammon signed with. The Reids are a prominent wizard family, known well amongst humans who practised wizardry or witchcraft in a more academic manner. Very few humans were given the privilege as they kept their magical abilities a secret, extending their enrollment of students only to those who already knew and kept the secret of their prestigious academy. Thanks to this while thousands of students did graduate, magic was able to be kept a secret, hidden away from the general population. 

My phone rings and I pick it up, seeing it was one of the Reids. 

“Hello, Rin here.” 

“My lady, we’ve got some information for you. Do you think you could come down to the Reid estate?” a young-sounding voice says.

“Of course. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” I hang up, stretching myself out. 

Sitting behind the desk for a full twelve hours was not good for me, but it was getting some progress done. Some of the crows and foxes I asked to scout managed to hunt down some of Mammon’s magical essence in a spot somewhere over in England, coincidentally right where the Reids were. A few of the crows met with Mammon’s familiars, a friendship I didn’t know was happening right under my nose. His familiars told mine that Mammon was, of course, being exploited by the witches in more ways than one, making my blood boil. 

It seems that the sanctity of demon pacts was going away day by day. It was too easy to make the pacts with the brothers which was good for others but bad for them. Giving away their powers so easily would result in, well, this. It makes one susceptible to being exploited in every way, shape, or form with no rest. 

I teleport myself outside the Reid’s estate, still absolutely flabbergasted by the sheer size of it. Giant stone pillars supported high ceilings and it looked every bit like the palace of royalty. It also was a little stuck in time, remaining decorated externally as though it was the early Victorian era. Fun, but just the slightest bit dated. 

I walk in, hunting down the office as my heels clacked against pristine marble flooring. I pause at the painting of Klaus, an absolute dear when he didn’t have a stick shoved up his ass. A young girl sat in his lap, giggling happily at her father. I remembered painting this and how happy Klaus was when he realised we could have our own little family despite me being relatively sterile and not wanting to give birth. It only took a little magic to infuse his blood into a baby that we adopted to make her as biologically his as possible. 

“My lady?” a voice calls out from behind me. I turn, meeting a man who looked to be about 50. “Please, allow me to introduce myself.”

“I am the current Lord of this house, Erik, descended from Klaus himself. My son seems to think he’s found answers to your query.” 

“Call me Rin. Charmed.” I stick my hand out for him to kiss, following after him when he finishes. 

“Charles was quite excited when he heard you were asking us for help, you see,” he begins. “He’s always had an interest in black magic and demonology, much to the disapproval of his fellow peers. Unlike Lord Klaus, he simply wants to learn it for the sake of learning it. He’s got a soul as white as the snow that falls the first day of winter so I’m sure he doesn’t want to use it for evil. In fact, it’s because of that interest that he was able to locate the coven you wanted to meet so quickly.” 

We walk through several halls as he explains the intricacies and the process that Charles went through as I look at the estate. Despite the fact that the outside looked so dated, the inside was much more to my liking. White marble made up almost every surface, red and gold tapestries and curtains adorning the walls. There were lots of plants brought inside too, adding an element of green and nature to the home. 

“Here we are,” Erik says. “Charles, Lynn has arrived!” Ah, I forgot that I used Lynn instead of Rin when I married Klaus to sound more English.

Loud cursing while things fall over sounds out as we approach the door of the study. Eventually, they open to reveal a boy who couldn’t be past the age of 20. Large glasses sat on a distinguished looking face, lavender eyes and blond hair a testament to the Reid family blood.

“Hello, Your Highness, Your Demoness? I-I’m sorry, I’m just absolutely in awe that someone as great and powerful as you has come to visit our little family.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Have you forgotten that I married into this family?” I point out, teasing the seemingly excited child. 

“That’s right! I forgot we’re related, if not by blood then by name! I’m so sorry your…Demon-ess.” He attempts to bow, making me laugh. 

“Call me Rin. I don’t mind. I’m quite an informal creature. Now, you have the information I wanted. Can I hear it?” 

“Yes! Of course!” He runs inside and I laugh again at his eagerness. 

“See, not many witches have pacts with demons nowadays. I managed to find out that it’s because Lord Lucifer started barring them after some time a while ago. The witch coven in question is made up of a lot of very old ones who are around five hundred now. The pact is relatively new so I’m unsure as to how Lord Mammon managed to make the pact.” He hands me a short stack of papers of handwritten notes. 

“Mammon’s a persistent son of a bitch, I’ll give him that. I’m not surprised he managed to go behind Lucifer’s back and do something like this.” I skim through the notes, focusing on the most important parts. 

“Well, it seems you managed to get a lot of information at once. How’d you manage that?” I ask. In bold was the name of the covenstead and a location. Six witches living in some forest a bit further south, past a faerie kingdom. 

“When I first got into Demonology I sought them out because of their knowledge of demons,” he admits. “I learned a lot about demons from them. But I’m not on their side! Gods no!” I roll my shoulders, feeling a joint pop. 

“Listen kid, I really don’t care. However, if you do something that gets in the way of what I’m trying to do I will be forced to act. This is very useful for me, so I’m not annoyed in any way.” 

“What are you going to do?” he asks suddenly. “It’s not every day a demon comes looking for a witch. Most demons can undo witch spells, especially higher-level ones.” 

“That is not something that’s your business. As far as I’m concerned,” I began to cast a spell. “You **never** talked to me.” The two men in the room collapsed, the amnesia spell making them both fall asleep. I didn’t want to get innocent humans caught up in something as messy as this was going to become. 

I leave the estate, heading back to my house. As soon as I walked in, I found a crow sitting on my desk, cawing angrily at me. 

“What!? Whaddya want?” We meet eyes and I crouch down to talk to it.

“Mammon! He’s with the witches right now! Track him!” it caws. 

“Well, take me to him then!” The bird flies out the window, sitting on the fence patiently as it waits for me to follow, knowing that it’d been a while since I last flew.

I get up, stretching my back for a second to let my bones crack a little. My wings hadn’t been able to open fully for months at this point, having to keep myself a secret from the demon brothers. The crow wings seemed a little eager to pop out too, the snapping of the black masses seeming louder than usual as they flutter around. My shoulder and back muscles were getting reaccustomed to the weight and effort of moving them again, muscles experimentally shifting their weight around. The pair of wings was about twice the average human wingspan tip to tip, making them a hassle to open indoors.

I wrap the limbs around me, cooing to myself as my hands comb out the feathers lightly, more loose feathers than usual caught up in my wings since I neglected to brush them out. With a yawn, I open them up to their full span, the relief I felt from them the same as working out a kink from your back.

Once they felt ready to support my weight I took off with the crow. We land in some trees and I press my nose to the wind, paying close attention to anything that could be his scent. The familiar smell of his body hits me and I begin to jump from tree to tree, perching myself over the covenstead. I can feel that magical energy radiating off of the old cabin, a mixture between whatever it was the witches were doing and Mammon’s magic. 

“Your mask!” the crow reminds me. 

“Thanks kid.” I fan my fingers out in front of my face, the porcelain mask cooling my heated skin. My casual tee and pants change to a loose yukata, dully coloured so that it wouldn’t pull too much attention to me up in the trees. 

**_(tw // allusion to potential dubcon)_ **

I watch patiently, waiting for Mammon to appear. Eventually, he leaves the wooden cabin, the same smell I hated so much on him. He didn’t seem too happy judging by the way he hung his head as he walked, hands dug far into his pockets. As soon as I felt his magic leave the human realm I jump down, walking into the covenstead. 

It looked like everything that the human movies presented as, except just the slightest bit more sinister. Parts of various creatures hung around the wooden walls, a fireplace burning wood off to the side. The witches all were gathered around something, one or two turning around when they saw me. 

“Oh? Who’s this?” one asks, walking up to me. She had bright red hair, and I internally called her Coral. 

“A demon!” Another says. She seemed to be the oldest of them all, so I called her Mother. “She must have been drawn in by Mammon’s energy! Dearie, would you like to join us?” The distinct smell of bodily fluids fills the air, making me gag behind my mask. 

“I’ve heard that Lord Mammon isn’t the biggest fan of you witches,” I start, circling the coven. “Now, demons aren’t the nicest people, I’ll vouch for that. However, it seems to me that you’ve **really** messed up letting me catch you in the act.” I open my palm, a battleaxe filling the space as I spin it around. 

_**(dubcon end)** _

“Now, question. Why should I let you live?” I taunt, ready to attack. One of them runs away and I hear her calling out to someone. 

“Eliza! Eliza, come! It’s one of your uncle’s friends!” I look up, seeing a small girl come out of a door in the arms of a witch. She was rubbing sleep out of her eyes, looking down at me curiously. 

“A friend? Are you one of Uncle Mammon’s friends?!” she squeals, running down the stairs and hugging my legs. “Can you tell him to come visit me more?” I stare at her. 

“Mammon’s tasked us with taking care of this cute little human!” Coral says. “He’s told us to make sure that she’s perfectly safe!” I saw her skin glow with Mammon’s sigil, a sense of dread filling me. 

“If Mammon found out that his little human child was being harmed I’m sure she wouldn’t spare her, no matter who you are,” she threatens.

“You think I’m scared? I’m not at all!” I laugh, picking the girl up and abandoning my axe on the ground. 

“Hey there, you’re Eliza right?” I coo, tickling her chin. “I’m going to take you somewhere else after this okay? These witches are being very mean to your uncle.” 

“They are? But they take good care of me!” 

“Eliza, have you been to school?” I ask. She shakes her head. “School has lots of little girls like you!” I could feel the beginnings of a summoning spell, scowling as one of my tails shoots out, grabbing the witch by the waist and throwing her into the wall opposite us. 

“Really?! I want to go to school! Sheila, can I go?” Eliza turned to the witches, seemingly addressing the one I called Mother. She didn’t notice the disappearance of one of the witches. 

“No, you can’t! It’s not safe for you,” she says. “Tell that lady to let you go, she wants to hurt you!” I turn my gaze back to her, charming her with magic. 

“Eliza, I want to save you. Will you let me save you?” I ask, knowing she was totally under my spell. She nods, falling asleep. 

**_(cw // descriptions of violence/light gore)_ **

I put her down on one of the arm chairs, crouching down and jumping at them faster than they could chant an incantation. The lower part of my mask comes off as I tear into their throats, rendering them unable to use any verbal spells. They wouldn’t be getting up to use any potions either. I felt my tail swish around angrily, annoyed at how these witches were treating Mammon. 

“You’re all absolute shit bags,” I growl, listening to them desperately trying to breath. The only sound I could hear was gurgling, their blood spilling over the holes I made and over their lips. I drag one of their bodies over to the middle of the room, beginning to draw out a summoning circle for Mammon with her blood. Using my own pact would be a little too dangerous. I write a quick note, telling Mammon to take her to the Reid household to get the little girl put into human society. 

**_(warning end)_ **

“Eliza,” I said, pulling her out of her slumber. “I’m going to have to go now. I’m going to ask Mammon to take you to nice humans, okay? They’ll know how to help you okay?” She shakes her head. 

“No! I don’t want to go to other humans! Only if Uncle Mammon knows them.” I crouched down beside her, making sure she couldn’t see the bodies on the other side of the room.” 

“I know them, and they will take very good care of you, alright? Here.” I open my wings, giving her one of the feathers. 

“Tell the people there to look at this feather carefully and that it’s from Klaus’s wife, Lynn Reid, alright?” I was glad I had a westernized name. “Tell them that Lynn is helping you but it’s a secret okay? Make sure Mammon doesn’t hear okay?” She takes the feather gingerly. 

“Are you sure? They won’t be mean right?” I nod. 

“I promise you they won’t! It’ll be okay! If something bad happens then both me and Mammon will take good care of you!” 

“…okay,” she agrees. I press my nose against her cheek, making her giggle as it tickles her. 

“Close your eyes okay? And when you open them back up, I’ll be gone, but Mammon will be here okay? Here.” I hand her the note. “Give this to him when he gets here okay?” She nods and I set the summoning spell off, disappearing immediately to avoid being caught. 

~~~

“What the heck happened here!?” Mammon cries as soon as he’s summoned. He felt Nam’s pact call him but didn’t expect that it was from her blood that he was called. All the witches were dead and judging by the wetness of the blood they just did. 

Blue-gold eyes look around frantically for the little girl he accidentally adopted, glad to see that she was okay. Scared, but okay. 

“Eliza!” He grabs her, picking her up and holding her against his chest. “What happened here?” 

“I don’t know, someone gave me this and told me to give you this letter and that they were going to ask you to take me to a human family,” she says, burying her face into his chest. 

“Did they know?” He opens the letter with one hand, bouncing lightly to rock Eliza gently. 

_Mammon,_

_It seems to me that these little witches are not the best people. I wish for the human to not grow near them. I suppose I have no room to ask this of you, but take her to the human wizard family known as the Reids. I’ll be in contact with them for the coming days for a short amount of time and I’ll make sure little Eliza is safe. I assure you that you can visit her freely, permitting you do not injure any of those humans in any way._

_Regards._

“Damn. No name either,” he mutters to himself.

“How the hell am I supposed to know where the family is?” He turns the letter over, seeing a sigil on the back of the paper. He doesn’t recognise it and makes a mental note to ask Lucifer later.

The idea of sending Eliza to live with other humans did sound nice to him. Keeping her with witches worried him a bit, considering the work they sometimes did could be a little dangerous for a little girl like her. 

“Did the person tell ya where you were supposed to go?” he asks the little bundle, feeling her shake her head. “Right then, maybe a crow will know.” 

“Hello!” A crow appears at his feet, but not one of his. “Mammon?” it asks, cocking its head curiously. 

“Who do you belong to?”

“Not important! Reid family?” 

“Well, how’d ya know that?” Mammon puts out a hand, letting the crow crawl onto him. 

“I’ll take you! Follow me!” The crow flies out of an open window, Mammon putting Eliza to sleep so that he could fly after the little bird.

It led him to a grand looking estate, making Mammon whistle lowly. The humans that lived here must be loaded. 

“Ah, I see she wasn’t bluffing!” An older looking human comes out to greet Mammon. “Somebody told me that you’d be bringing little Eliza. Is this her?” The human peers curiously into his arms, smiling kindly at her. 

“You move fast,” he says. “She was just here.” 

“Who was?” The human points at the paper in Mammon’s hand. 

“The one who left you that note. She told us that you’d be here very soon and she was going to leave Eliza in our care. You’re given visitation on the condition that you don’t hurt any of us.” 

“Ya think I just go around killin’ humans whilly nilly? I got better things to do with my time than that,” he says. Despite his harsh sounding words, he gently puts Eliza in the man’s grasp. 

“I’ll only honour that side of the promise if this child ain’t hurt, ya got that?” he threatens. 

“Of course! If any harm were to befall the child, I’m afraid her Lady would not like it. A human promise may not mean much to someone of your calibre, but it’s the most I can offer you, Lord Mammon.” He scoffed. 

“Ya better honour that shitty promise of yours. See ya then.” He gives Eliza one last glance before leaving the residence. 

It made no sense. How did someone find her? He thought the witches were smarter than that. Lucifer said that it would be a good idea to leave her with them, so he signed off on the idea too. Mammon knew for a fact that if Lucifer thought something was a good idea then it had to be a good idea. That meant that whoever found Eliza must have had some crazy good connections, or the witches weren’t as smart as they thought. He was willing to bet it was the latter. 

~~~

I prepared the bundle of cash and children’s clothes, asking a fox to go deliver it to the Reids for me. It was the day after the previous night’s events and I already went back to scavenge their house, stealing anything worth of value and taking it back home, burning down the covenstead to permanently rid it from marring the landscape. 

A sense of pride lights up inside me as I realise that I probably helped Mammon a lot. Even if he didn’t know about it, I was able to stop him from being further exploited by those assholes that dared called themselves witches. Eliza would be in good hands as long as she was with the Reid family, thanks to both me and Mammon threatening her. 

Now that I have some time to myself, I decided to take some time to just…digest everything that happened recently. Beel’s marking on my body was all the proof I needed. Like the others, once their name appeared on my body it meant that not only were they going to fall for me, it meant that I was going to fall for them totally. The names would remain on my body forever, a permanent reminder that I once swore my life to them. 

I feel myself getting flustered at the thought of dating Beel, heart immediately melting at the proposition of him looking as happy at me as he would his food. He’s super nice too, offering to help me out with my assignments even though he didn’t understand them himself sometimes. It was weird to remember that we were technically in school. Plus, he looked like he’d be really good at cuddling. 

“Ahh!” I turned into my pillow, screaming into the fabric at the thought, grinning to myself.

Falling for Beel wasn’t the worst thing I could have done. 


	12. Revelations

* * *

_ If only I could stay here with you forever. _

* * *

Lucifer decided to take the time that Rin would be away from the House of Lamentation to do a bit of investigating. The words that Diavolo and Luciel left him with were making him uneasy. Why would they both show up just to look at the exchange student? She must be hiding something.

He opens the door easily, a little surprised that she didn’t even lock it before leaving. She did seem to be in a rush to get out of the house as soon as possible. Perhaps she was just incredibly homesick? 

The room was totally dark and he turns on the light, clicking his teeth at how dirty it was. It looked like a storm blew through the space, clothes and scrolls thrown everywhere in her haste to finish packing and get back up to the human realm. In a sense, it’d make his look for things easier. He wouldn’t have to worry too much about putting things back in perfect order. 

He begins by looking through her day to day bag, seeing if her backpack had anything of value. Nothing. He knew that she carried a notebook or sketchbook with her everywhere, so maybe if he could find that he’d be able to find something. 

That turned out to be a much harder task than initially thought, seeing as she had a huge number of them and when he opened it, none of them seemed to be in a language he could recognise. He knew that it was a human language but something about them was slightly off, pissing him off. The moment he thought something was recognisable it wasn’t, something else making the whole sentence indecipherable. 

Her sketchbook was equally as unsuccessful, the only thing of note being drawings of him and his brothers in their day to day life. He had to hand it to her, she knew how to draw. He found himself staring at the bust she drew of him, an interesting look at him at his desk in class. Even he could agree he seemed unapproachable but something about the lines on the page made him look a little softer. 

Levi mentioned something about her having to take medication so that would be the first thing to check. He sniffs around, using the enhanced sense of smell that all demons had to see if he could find them. Eventually, he finds them pulling out two small containers of pills. 

“What in the Devildom?” He recognised them both, fortunately, feeling anger well up inside of him. One was a heat suppressant and the other was a magic suppressant that seemed incredibly powerful judging by the labels on the container and dosage.

How did she miss something like this? Had she gotten so comfortable around them all that she no longer cared about being exposed in such a manner?

His next concern was why she had them. Diavolo told him that she was a human that he didn’t have to worry about at all, that she was perfectly harmless to them all. And yet here she was, either taking a bunch of suppressants or keeping them to use on him and his brothers. Then again, he didn’t notice anything strange with himself and when she did cook Beel was next to her. 

“Oi! Lucifer!” Lucifer puts the vials down, turning to Mammon. “What’re you doing here? Never mind, listen I need to tell ya somethin’.” 

“Mammon, I won’t be paying for your bills,” Lucifer says, prepared to kick him out of the room.

“It’s not that! Look.” He hands Lucifer a note, flipping it to it’s back. “Remember Eliza? I just had to drop her off with some other humans and I was just left this note. I feel like this sigil should be familiar but I can’t put my finger on it.”

Lucifer took it from him, eyes widening. The blue and red triangles encased in gold taunted him, the symbol of the demon he was looking for. 

“Aiya,” he says breathlessly. Mammon’s eyes widen. 

“Aiya!? You’re tellin’ me that old hag of a demon is the one that found Eliza?” Lucifer grabbed his younger brother’s shoulders. 

“Where did you get this?” Lucifer demands.

“Eliza gave it to me! She said somebody came to the covenstead of those witches and told her to give me this note. It was addressed to me and’ everythin’ too!” Lucifer skims over its contents as Mammon explains. 

“So you didn’t get a place, no name, nothing?” 

“Well, I took her over to some wizard family, Reid or something.” Lucifer blinks. He didn’t know that name. “Some human told me that the person who wrote that note stopped off at their place and then disappeared. I couldn’t get a name or anything, although a familiar did come to talk to me. Wait, a crow familiar. Lucifer, ya don’t think she’s come out of hibernation has she?” Mammon seemed a little uneasy at the prospect. 

“I don’t know Mammon.” Lucifer scowls, immensely annoyed at the lack of information he had. 

“Hey, ya alright Lucifer? Ya seem more stressed than usual. Maybe ya should take some time off?” Mammon suggests. 

“It’s nothing. I just can’t get what Luciel said out of my head.” Lucifer shakes his head, feeling a headache coming on as he thought back to Luciel. 

Why did he say Rin reminds him of Aiya? 

“Ya know, ya never told us what he said. Ever since they left you’ve been more worked up than usual,” Mammon points out, making Lucifer sigh.

“Mammon, I need you to come with me somewhere. Since her familiars are also crows I think you’ll be of some use.” The seriousness in his voice wasn’t lost on Mammon and he knew that Lucifer was way past the point of talking things out. Besides, it didn’t sound too difficult of a task. 

“Right. I can come with ya for a bit then,” Mammon agrees. Lucifer could feel the stress alleviate a bit. As much as he harasses Mammon, he knew that the demon had his moments. 

“I want to see if we can break into her crypt,” Lucifer says, already casting the spell to teleport them. 

The two stood in one of the oldest places of the Devildom; Aiya’s crypt. It was less of a building and more like an open park with large stone pillars and pathways leading back and forth between the maze of walls that surrounded the outside of it. It was deep in the heart of a forest, impossible for one to get in or out of unless they were one of the most powerful demons in Hell. Even Lucifer wouldn’t have been able to get here if it weren’t for Diavolo showing him the place some time ago. 

The two demons circle the outside in pursuit of the entrance. Mammon kept quiet the entire time, obviously unsure about the whole thing. The walls were just the slightest bit taller than they were and yet, the sheer amount and uniformity of them made it impossible to tell where you had just walked past, the mess of trees not helping them orient themselves in any sense of the word. Pillars that went past the walls seemed to almost taunt Lucifer, telling him that he was so close to getting some of the answers he wanted and yet too far away. 

“Lucifer, I don’t wanna alarm ya but I don’t think we’re gonna be gettin’ in there any time soon. Just take a look at the place. Even Luciel said he can’t get in here without Aiya.” 

“That’s where you come in. I was hoping you’d have an idea of how to break in,” Lucifer says, turning to his brother. 

“Listen, maybe I could try to jump the walls or something but dontcha feel it too? There’s a strong spell in this place. Just bein’ here’s probably already tipped her off.” Lucifer ignores his concern, continuing to wander around. 

“I’m sure we can take her on Mammon. You’re telling me the Avatar of Greed is scared?” Lucifer taunts, knowing Mammon would give in. Or normally would. 

“It’s not that I’m scared, Lucifer. It‘s just-this all seems like a bad idea. Ya don’t feel the same? Somethin’s off.” Mammon grabs his wrist. 

“Lucifer, what’s the matter?” He yanks his hand out of the demon’s grasp, scoffing. 

“Fine. If that’s the case I’ll continue looking by myself. Even someone like her has to slip up every once in a while.” As soon as he said that, a hissing noise came from behind them as the walls gave way, opening into the main courtyard. 

“Well look at that,” Lucifer smirks. “I guess we won’t be breaking in today.” 

“Are ya just gonna pretend that we weren’t wanderin’ around for the past hours or so?” Mammon points out, only to be ignored. 

Lucifer scoffs and strides in with an air of confidence, sure that nothing bad would happen. Mammon, concerned at his brother’s lack of wanting to stay unharmed followed after, just in case.

Mammon didn’t know her well but he remembered that when the two were together she didn’t seem to hate him too much. Before she left, she gave him a feather as a show of unity between the two, murmuring something about how birds of a feather have to stick together - literally in their case, sharing the same patron animal. He hopes that if she were to show up he could talk her out of fighting Lucifer. If only he didn’t lose the damn feather - maybe it’d be helpful in assisting Lucifer on his seemingly aimless search.

Now inside the crypt, it didn’t seem too different from the outside. It just looked lonely.

Pillars reached skyward, not holding up anything except for partially broken ceilings in some spots, the marble having aged over the thousands of years that the crypt stood in Hell. There were room-like spaces, walls were partially torn down and destroyed. The only evidence of it not being a result of time being the claw marks and debris that looked a little too small, as though someone had worked hard to crush it. 

Candles suddenly began to light themselves, seemingly a response to the energy of the demons and casting an eerie light through the place. Their shadows danced with the light of the candles, the additional light that would be useful actually being the opposite. It only further confused the two demons as smoke began to rise from them, creating an intense fog that they could barely see past. The candles remained lit, now just circular masses of light in the maze of stone. They didn’t seem to be lighting up any sort of direction, just placed haphazardly everywhere. 

“Dammit, this is going to be more difficult than I thought,” Lucifer mutters. 

“I think she knows we’re here Lucifer,” Mammon brought up again. “She must be tryin’ to literally smoke us out.”

“She wouldn’t be this defensive of the place if there was nothing to hide Mammon.” 

“Lucifer, you’re being too weird. First I find ya lookin’ through Rin’s stuff, then ya go on about Aiya. What, do ya think those two are related somehow?” Lucifer stiffened, realising that Mammon had a point. 

Diavolo’s words rang through his mind again.  _ Rin reminded him of Aiya.  _

It didn’t make sense though. They told him that Aiya was infertile, sterile in fact. She told him that herself. But then again, he hadn’t seen her for thousands of years. She didn’t come down to the Devildom. There was always a chance that she used magic to produce a child. That the child could very much so be alive today. 

“We need to find the bodies,” Lucifer suddenly said. 

“What? I thought that was a myth!” Lucifer shakes his head. 

“Diavolo told me this himself. He said that it’s true. Aiya takes the bodies of her dead lovers and hides them down here. She might have left something with them. She might have taken a body that knows something. Something I’m trying to answer. Besides, she might have something precious there then Mammon,” he suggests, trying to coerce the other demon into staying with him. Lucifer wasn’t dense - he knew that if she were to suddenly appear, having two people to fight her would be better than just one. 

“Fine. If ya won’t stop me from lookin’ through the coffins to look for stuff to sell then I’ll stay. If you do, then I’m leavin’, got it?” Mammon says. 

“Deal Mammon.”

The two continue to wander around, totally lost. There was no way they were going to be able to find what they were looking for, something that Lucifer was growing painfully more aware of as time passed. She was good, he’d give her that. She knew exactly what she was doing. They’d spend eternity wandering around here and would barely have an idea of where they just went past last. 

“How does she navigate this shit hole?!” Lucifer curses suddenly, punching a wall next to him. It crumbles, joining the numerous other broken walls. “At this rate we’ll wander so far in we’ll just be here until time ends!” 

The wind around them begins to pick up, responding to Lucifer’s aggression. The two demons felt themselves getting pulled out of the endless maze, thrown a few miles away from the crypt itself. The walls suddenly rise up, folding over to cover even the tallest of the pillars before coming down on them, the entire thing disappearing in a loud groan of stone. 

It destroyed itself in some bizarre cloaking spell, and there was no way they’d be able to get back in now. 

Lucifer seethes silently, unable to believe that the answers that he craved so dearly just disappeared in front of his eyes. Internally, he knew it was partially his fault. He knew that she was overly protective of this place, he knew that she was watching over this place remotely in ways he could never even fathom, he knew that the slightest disturbance in the area would alert her immediately. She probably let him in to taunt him, forcing him to waste his time on something as dumb and trivial as walking around for however many hours he had wasted here.

Without asking, Mammon teleports the two back home, landing them both in Lucifer’s bedroom silently. He knew that Lucifer would need some time to process that for once in a long time, he had fucked up royally. He didn’t press the issue anymore, leaving Lucifer to bathe himself in his own anger. 

~~~

I sit up in my bed, barely able to get a wink of sleep when I felt a disturbance in my crypt. Two masses of strong demon energy were there and a part of me knew that I should go down to check it out but I wasn’t too worried. Even if they made it to the crypt, it wouldn’t be that easy to get into. 

Tons and tons of spells were layered on there and the only person that was able to break any of them because I tied them directly to my magic. It was like a lock and any forcible breaking of it would immediately summon me to where the person attempted to get in. They’d figure out the hard way that  **nobody** gets in there without my permission. 

I groan, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I feel even more fatigued. Living a sort of double life was starting to catch up to me, the names Aiya and Rin bouncing around my head. It wasn’t that I was ashamed of being Aiya, far from it. It was more so that the name Aiya carried so much grief for me. I began to associate it with my past as a prostitute when I was first reborn after dying a human, the first three husbands who left me, other things like that. 

Rin was like a new start to me, a name that I chose after hearing the windchimes clinking outside of a Buddhist’s temple. The sound of the glass against the wood made me feel so at home, the “rin-rin” of the wind’s moving was one of the prettiest sounds I’d ever heard at the time. Even now, I could remember that day. 

It was so sunny, and my kimono was still dyed red from decimating the only home I’d ever known. The chimes brought me a peace my soul craved. Rin, a name that I hoped would bring me eternal calm and one I didn’t use consistently until just before my fourth husband, after my divorce from Luciel. Before then, I just used it with humans only and kept Aiya a name with the demons. Now, I made sure everyone called me Rin.

Lucifer didn’t need to know these things. Not just yet. If he wanted to he could scour through my crypt as much as he wanted, but he wouldn’t be able to find anything.

After all, being as old as I am, I’m sure I’m entitled to more than a few secrets. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're going to pretend that I didn't forget yesterday was Saturday


	13. Warmth

* * *

_ I didn’t know how dully the sun shone until I saw your smile. _

* * *

“Okay!” I slap my face lightly, mentally preparing myself for today and recovering after the events of the previous couple of days in my bedroom. 

A week or two after I went out with Asmo, Satan and Lucifer got into an argument after Satan said he’d make a pact with me to spite Lucifer. I didn’t exactly want a pact for that reason because it meant that he might not actually want it. He got mad and Lucifer came in, they fought, swapped bodies and then we had to go up to the Human Realm to try and correct the spell after Mammon’s plan to try and get them to reconcile failed miserably. Being in an otome didn’t seem to be the best choice to try and get them to make up. It just ended up with Cerberus' balls being threatened. 

Now that the spell managed to wear off, Satan and Lucifer returned to their bodies. They got along a little better, me cheering them on the sidelines. I was glad to see that they didn’t hate each other as much anymore. 

Satan then came up to me himself to sign the pact, telling me that it was because I apparently helped inspire him to face his issues with Lucifer and separate himself from the fact that he was born of Lucifer’s wrath. 

Lucifer’s hatred towards me only began to grow after Luciel’s visit. So much for him working things out for me. I decided to avoid him even more, not exactly wanting to be on the other end of all that aggression. I was already getting pissed off thinking about my talk with Luciel.

Besides, today was a special day for me!

“Ready to go?” Asmo asks after entering my room, giving me a once over. “I approve! I like it!” 

I decided to wear something that’d be good for the heat of the outside. Beelzebub invited me to go to one of his Fangol practices and I couldn’t reject him. I usually just went to the locker rooms after his practice or walked him to them with food, finding every excuse I could to spend time with him. Our friendship had grown even more recently, much to Mammon’s annoyance.

I put on a pair of light wash distressed denim shorts and a white crop with a pastel blue flannel to wear just in case it got a little chilly tied at my waist. I decided to be a little more scandalous today, choosing a pair of fishnet stockings that come up to the middle of my waist, still not too comfortable exposing my stomach. Instead of my normal heels, I pulled on a pair of low top vans. Asmo dressed similarly, making the two of us unintentionally match. 

“Now, I need to warn you,” Asmo starts, linking arms with me as we walk over to campus. 

“Fangol is similar to your human version of football. You know, you hold the ball and run down the field. However, being demons, it gets a little more graphic than you’d think. Sometimes, the demons get a little rowdy. But, it’s a lot of fun to watch when they get excited and the players are absolute powerhouses. I’m practically drooling thinking about how they look when they tear off their shirts!” he sings. 

“Wow Asmo, your enthusiasm is totally rubbing off on me. I don’t even like sports that much but you seem excited to see shirtless Fangol players,” I say. He nods.

“Trust me, it’s a sight you don’t want to miss. But, I bet your eyes will only be on one player right?” I slap his arm, walking ahead of him so that he wouldn’t see just how flustered that comment made me. 

“Oh come on! Rin! You’re so mean!” He runs up behind me, throwing an arm over my shoulder. 

“Don’t worry! If you ask me, I think he likes you too!” I stop. 

“Asmo, I swear to the Father your brothers abandoned if you’re lying to me I WILL castrate you with my mouth I promise you that,” I threaten. He puts his hands up, laughing. 

“Kinky~ I like it! I’m not lying though, I’ve just been looking at how he’s been acting and maybe you’re both dense because he’s been looking at you differently too. Less like he just wants to eat you. Although, I bet if he did want to eat you in a different way you wouldn’t mind~” he teases, laughing as I push him away. 

“Shut up Asmo. You’re making me a mess,” I complain, voice muffled behind the hand I put up to my mouth. 

“I bet you want him to make you a mess~”

“ASMO!” 

~~~

Beelzebub played his hardest when he saw his brother and Rin standing in the stands cheering him on as loudly as they could. It was sweet of them to be so passionate, even though this was just a practice. The actual game he had yet to invite Rin to. It was one of the more important ones in the season and he didn’t know if he’d be able to perform well enough for her. 

“Hey, is that the human you’re obsessed with Beel?” one of the players, Roman, asks, slapping his back to get his attention. 

“What do you mean?” Beel questions, taking off his helmet and shaking out his hair. 

“The one that walks you to the locker room all the time. She’s cute dontcha think? Oi! Hei, don’t you think?” The demon in question turns to look at Roman and Beel, then up at the stands for Rin. 

“The one next to Asmodeus? She’s cute. That’s the one Beel’s been hanging around right?” Roman nods, grinning at Beel. 

“You know, some of the other lust demons are saying that your little human’s cardinal sin is lust. Has she been sleeping around the House of Lamentation?” 

“No,” Beel answers, feeling a little uncomfortable at the thought. If she was sleeping around he’d be able to smell it on her. As far as he knew, she wasn’t even romantically interested in the others. 

“You sure? Lord Diavolo seems to like her a lot-any demon that tries to do something to her gets yelled at by him. Is she fucking him?” Beel shakes his head, looking over at the coach waving at the demons.

“I think Coach is looking for you.” Roman rolled his eyes, pulling Beel into his side. 

**_(tw // sexual harrassment/mentions of planned rape)_ **

“Listen, I’m gonna cut to the chase here Beelzebub. That human looks like a tasty little thing for us to fuck or eat. You know that we don’t get many humans down here easily. Help us get her over to my place and we can all share her. I’m sure you’ve thought about eating her as well,” he smirked. Beel couldn’t deny that, but his feelings towards her changed. 

“I can’t. Lucifer would get mad.” Roman scoffs. 

“Lucifer’s such a stick in the mud. Come on Beel, look at her. When’s the next time you’ll be able to do something like this huh?” 

_**(tw end)** _

A sharp sound of a whistle cut through the air, interrupting their conversation. Beelzebub walked away, a sinking feeling in his stomach. He didn’t like hearing her be talked about like that, but he knew it was happening. Lots of demons were saying things like that behind her back and she pretended it didn’t bother her but the look on her face made it clear to him that they did. He wished he could do more for her but he didn’t know how to help. 

The coach explained the next and final strategy of the day, one that the team was struggling to do well. If they managed to get it right this time then they’d be pretty much able to win every game in the future. 

Once the team was split up into the fake opposition, Beel took his position. As the team captain, he was the most flexible player on the team and ready to play anything or shift mid game. As soon as the whistle went off again he focused solely on his goal. 

Get the ball and run. 

As he ran, he heard Asmo and Rin’s voice calling his name and cheering him on, further motivating him. He knows that even if he failed, Rin wouldn’t mind. She knew how tough this position was thanks to him telling her about it when he got worried over a game that was coming up. Even so, he wanted to show her himself at his peak performance. The two worked out together occasionally but that wasn’t enough in his eyes. He wanted to be the best demon he could be. He wanted to be able to protect her.

After dodging the fake offense, he finally makes it to the end of the field, throwing the ball down and tearing off his helmet as his teammates surround him in celebration. All he heard was screaming of his name in excitement, everybody high on the joy of finishing something they’d been working on for weeks. The few people in the stands cheered and clapped along too. A brilliant smile made its home on Beel’s face when he saw how excited Asmo and Rin looked, widening even more as he watched Rin jump the railing and run towards him. 

He breaks out of the group huddle, running towards her and picking her up, resting her on his forearm as she grinned at him, cupping his cheeks in her hand. 

“Beel! You did it!” she screams, bouncing in his hold. “I knew you could! We both did! I’m so proud of you!” Her eyes were filled with so much joy that he felt the world stop. 

He knows that he likes her and he hopes with everything that he is that she likes him too. He wants that so bad, more than a full unlimited buffet at three of his favourite restaurants. She was happy right now, so happy just because he did something. He wanted to keep her this happy, to make her laugh like this every day for the rest of her short life. 

Without him even realising he lowers her a bit, bringing his hand up to the back of her head and kissing her suddenly. Her lips are soft and full, something he was glad to have gotten right after countless times staring at her when she wasn’t looking at him. She feels so nice in his grasp and he holds her tighter, his other hand going from her head to her back to press her against his chest. He feels her breath hitch in surprise at his actions. Pulling back after a few seconds, he finds himself staring at her face of absolute shock. A sense of dread settles in his stomach at her reaction as she touches her lips gently, staring at him. 

“Beelzebub, what the fuck,” she whispers. “What the fuck did you just do,” she repeats. 

“I’m sorry,” he starts. 

Fuck, he just messed up awfully didn't he? She doesn’t like him like that, he should have known. Why would she? He was just a glutton after all - there was only so much his face and muscles could do. 

“I just got caught up in the moment and I-”

She didn’t let him finish, going back in for a second kiss. Her legs managed to wrap around his waist as she returned his affection, arms wrapping around his shoulder as he felt her thighs tense around to support her own weight, his own arms now free to hold her properly. He hears her whine lightly in her throat and he licks her lip experimentally, glad when she opens her mouth to let him in, a sound of happiness leaving her. Every part of her kiss seemed just as eager to him, a hand sliding down to cradle his face as she tries to press herself tighter against him. It was almost desperate, but he loves it, groaning a little into the kiss as she teases his lips with her own. 

After they lose their breath she pulls back, seemingly not yet down with him as her lips trail over his jaw and neck. He laughs a little at how ticklish they feel, face heating up even more as he feels her lick his collarbone lightly, eyes glinting at him mischievously with the promise of  _ more _ . She eventually stops, looking up at him so innocently and with so much love that he feels his heart jump up to his throat. 

The two stare at each other as they catch their breath, Beel unsure of what to say. He didn’t expect her to return his kiss so passionately and he suddenly felt an urge to see what other cute sounds he could get out of her. She already got at other parts of him, her hand now resting against his chest as her thumb stroked the skin there gently, sending a shudder down his spine. 

He wanted her so badly. 

“Hi,” she finally says, giggling a bit and leaning into his chest.

“Hi,” he replied, smiling back at her. An arm comes to her bottom, supporting her weight so that she wouldn’t get tired holding herself up. She hugs him again, giggling lightly. 

“I like you,” she says. “A lot.” 

“I like you too.” He didn’t think that the confession would be so simple. 

In his mind, he played it out over and over, and in so many different ways. Sometimes it was a picnic, other times a fancy dinner that he asked her out on. Maybe she’d look at him and he’d feel like the moment was right and he’d tell her he loved her, in a way that was different than his brothers. That sometimes, being with her was worth being hungry. That he’d do everything he could to protect that smile on her face, even when it didn’t seem to quite reach her eyes. 

But, this felt right. It was perfect for them. 

“Rin! Beel!” Asmo runs over to the two, an equally wide grin on his face.

“I told you Rin! What’d I say!” He feels her shift to turn to Asmo, turning around himself to make it easier for her. He didn’t want to put her down, not yet. 

“Shut the absolute fuck up you asshole!” she yells at him. 

Beel looks at her face, now noticing how red she was. She must have been embarrassed. Cute. He buries his face into her neck, breathing in her scent as he lets her scream at his brother, smiling to himself. 

“I will not! I told you! I’m the Avatar of Lust, I know these things!” Asmo whins, a typical response to being shut down. Beel laughs, glad to see that even after this seemingly earth-shattering revelation to themselves, nothing seems to have changed. 

~~~

I stare at Beel’s door, the initial high of the kiss finally ebbing away hours later. The kiss gave me a sense of euphoria, calming every reservation I had about confessing to Beel. I was thankful that he confessed first in such a cute way. It was sweet, like one of those romantic high school movies that human preteens watched and I ended up getting roped into when babysitting. The warmth of him against me was still something my brain refused to let go of, turning my brain to mush when I thought about it a little too long. And yet, I knew that I had to prepare for that to leave me. 

“Oh, Rin?” The door opened as Beel seemed to be preparing to leave, smiling at me. “Did you need something?” When we got home, I asked him to give me some time to digest everything, promising that I’d return once I calmed down a bit. 

“I need to talk to you.” His face falls at the serious tone of my voice and he let me in, sitting on his bed. 

“Did you change your mind?” he asks, toying with his blanket nervously. 

“No! No, god no. Sorry, G-slur no,” I say quickly, wanting him to not worry. “You might after I tell you this though.” He looks at me curiously. 

“If it’s about you being married before I don’t mind. Humans get remarried, right? We can get married whenever you want, since you humans live so…” he stops his sentence short, face falling again. I shake my head. 

“It’s not that. Beelzebub, look at me.” He turns his face back to me, and I feel awful about having to break his heart. 

“I have a lot of secrets. Ones that will change everything you know about me. I can’t tell you any of them right now, I usually don’t tell these people secrets until I know I can trust that they won’t leave me. Beel, I don’t want to be with you if you can’t trust me. I’m telling you this right now so you can’t hate me later. I have so, so many secrets Beelzebub.” 

“But you love me, right?” he asks immediately. I start at the use of the word love. It was such a powerful word but he was willing to use it so quickly. 

“I think I love you,” he continues quietly, hands still playing with the blanket.

“I do! I totally do Beel!” I cup his face in my hands, terrified that he’d start crying. “I care about you so much, and I want to be with you so badly. I have so many secrets though.” He looks at me, a determined gleam in his eyes. 

“You said you keep these secrets until you know for sure the person won’t leave you right?” I nod. 

“If that’s the case then I’m promising you this right now. I have a lot of secrets too, ones that you might hate about me. If you can promise not to hate me for the person I used to be, I can promise you I won’t hate you either.” My eyes begin to tear up. 

“Do you promise? Pinky swear? Swear on your life?” I say, desperate to hear his agreement. I crawl into his lap, straddling his thighs as I stare into his eyes. I wouldn’t accept a lie. 

“If you’re still the same person I know you as today, then I won’t hate you. I like who you are right now. Your past might have been messy, but that’s okay. Even if you’ve killed people, I don’t mind. I promise. I’ve probably done worse,” he says softly, seemingly trying to calm me down. 

“Beel, if I’ve done things just as, no, worse than you but I still showed you the me that you know right now, would you hate me? Please, answer this as though it's not a hypothetical but it’s the truth. 

“If I was just as demonic as you and your brothers, would you still accept me, no I am as bad, if not worse then you all. Would you still take me?” I find myself close to begging, but I really was. I was begging him to love me. If he didn’t…

_I think I’d die._

“The only reason why I would reject you would be if you hurt my family. If you tried to kill me or my brothers, I’d kill you. Is that clear?” he says with conviction. 

“If you can promise me that you won’t do that, wouldn’t do that, then I don’t care what your history is.” His voice stays level, keeping me calm. 

My body relaxes, leaning into him. I never tried to hurt his brothers. Never. I would never want to hurt them. I knew that. Even if Belphegor was going to try and kill me when he got out, I’d bite my teeth and bear it. That’s what it meant for me when I mated. To suffer everything I could to receive the love I need. Beel could give me that for however long he wanted to give me that. If he could promise me his love I didn’t care what I’d have to suffer through. 

“If you promise that you’ll love me after learning about the truth of me when I can tell you, I promise you I’ll do everything I can to protect you and your loved ones. I promise on my life Beel.” He seems to accept the answer, pulling me into a tight hug. 

“I don’t know what secrets you’ve kept but if you’re still the person I got to know these past months, then it’s okay. If the Rin I know isn’t just a lie or a trick, it’s okay.” 

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” I feel myself getting a little tired, the stress of telling him half the truth no longer weighing on my mind. I was the person I presented him to be, just with a little more cracks than he thought. 

“Do you want to sleep here tonight?” he offers. “You look a little anxious.” I nod. 

“Sorry for being such a bother.” 

“You aren’t bothering me. We’re dating now, aren’t we?” He smiles at me. 

“Really? We are?” I ask him, happiness replacing my nerves. 

“I thought that the kiss in the field was evidence enough for the both of us,” he laughs, pressing a kiss to my forehead. 

“I don’t want to assume things,” I whine, taking his hand in mine. “It’d be awkward if I said “Yeah, my boyfriend’s Beelzebub,” and then you turned around and said “Nope. Never met her in my life.” That’s scary!” He seems to flush at the use of the word boyfriend, making me smile. 

“Boyfriend? Is that what I am now?” he teases lightly. “We’re dating now?” I nodded. 

“We are.” He grins. 

“I’m glad.” 

He yanks me down into the bed with him, adjusting our bodies so that he could bury his face into my neck. I yelp a little at the sudden movement, shuddering when I feel him kiss the skin there lazily. His arms wrap around my waist and he holds me tightly as though to prevent any sort of escape. The warmth of the bed and him lull me to sleep immediately, hands resting on the back of his neck to keep him where he was. 

I am utterly and hopelessly in love with the demon in my arms. 

~~~

The next day at school was chaotic to say the least. Asmo decided that it wasn’t safe to leave me alone and neither did Beel, one of them staying within earshot of me just in case one of Beel’s many unrequited “lovers” tried something. Beel told me that one of his teammates said something that concerned him a little more than usual so he didn’t want to be on the sorry side of things. 

All the brothers already knew that getting along so well with them made school a bit harder for me. The other students got upset and were constantly either badgering me about the taste of their cum or snickering about it to each other behind my back. It seemed they didn’t think that I could get the brothers to like me for any reason other than sleeping with them. Made sense considering we’re all demons down here, but still sucked to have to deal with on a daily basis. 

Of course, that’s how I ended up staring up at Roman, one of Beel’s teammates. The demon was just the slightest bit shorter than Beel but equally as buff. He cornered me at my locker while Beel left for half a second, promising me that he’d be back soon. Asmo got distracted by something and I didn’t blame him. 

“So, how long have you been with Beelzebub?” he asks, leaning in a little too close for my comfort. 

“Not until last night.” He clicks his teeth, leering at me. 

“You dumb human. I know you’ve been fucking him longer than that.” I groan. 

“Maybe you’re the dumb one. If I fucked Beel wouldn’t you smell it on me?”

“I-Maybe! The brothers know stronger magic than other demons do. He could just be hiding it from us!” I roll my eyes, trying to move away from him. He slams a hand down on the wall, blocking my movement. 

“Listen, I’ll make this easy on you. How about you come over to my place, hang out with me and a couple buddies of ours. I promise we’ll take it as slow as you want.” He drags out his last syllables, the meaning of his words not lost on me. 

I put my arms around his shoulders, surprising him as he was pulled in closer to me. Beel didn’t seem to be coming back anytime soon so I snapped my fingers, a magical note appearing behind Roman. A quick note was scrawled out, sending itself to his locker telling him that I went out to grab some new school supplies and I’d be a little late on my way home. 

“Roman,” I purr, glad to see that I still have enough magic in me to charm him. “Don’t you think sharing me would be a disservice to you? Why don’t we go somewhere else right now so we can spend some time getting to know each other?” I purposely widen my eyes, batting my eyelashes to make myself seem more innocent. 

“I’m just a human after all aren’t I? I don’t think I’d know how to make you happy just yet.” He grins, seeming to like the idea I planted in his head. 

“Fine. But I’ll treat you like the animal you are.” He waved his hand, teleporting the two of us to a forest I recognised as being far away from the heart of the Devildom. 

“Now strip,” he demands, eyes roaming over my body hungrily. 

I shrug off the jacket dress, throwing it far away from me as I neared the other demon, suddenly running behind him and kicking him hard in the back of the knee to force him down into the ground. My weight came down on him right away, grabbing his hands and pinning them against his back, a red fox tail materialising from behind me to hold them still. 

“What the fuck are you doing?!” he yells, craning his back to look at me, a pitiful squeak leaving his mouth as he sees me shift partially. 

“I’m teaching you a lesson~” I sing, a second tail coming to separate his hands. 

**_(descriptions of gore, violence)_ **

One tail holds one hand, the muscle weaving itself around his arm and forcing the palm so far back that I heard his bone snap as his skin tears. I might not have magic to cast incredibly powerful spells but I still have my pure physical strength. 

He begins to try to mutter a spell through the pain, a third tail shoving itself into his mouth and down his throat. I shudder as I feel his throat try desperately to swallow around the mass of fur, disgusting me. The pulsing of his muscle against my own makes me shove my tail in further, hoping he’d just die from fucking gagging on the thing.

“You won’t be trying any of that,” I hiss as I feel my jaw unhinge. 

I bring my teeth down to the back of his throat, drool spilling out of my mouth as I begin to bite down on the sides, careful of the tail that lodged itself in his throat. I could feel his lower body kicking against me, desperately trying to escape my grasp. 

My bloodlust was out of control. I was surrounded by these pitiful demons, constantly talking behind my back and belittling me. They didn’t know who I was, what I was capable of. I felt my claws begin to scratch through the thick leather of the uniform, latching closer to his ribcage. I drew back a little bit, the blood from his throat pooling in the front of my mouth, dripping down to stain his clothes and the ground beneath us.

“Beel said you said some not nice things,” I scold. “I don’t like it when Beel’s feelings are hurt you know!” My jaw comes back to bite down on his throat harder, pulling back once I feel my fangs beginning to resist against muscle. I pull my tail out, whipping it aggressively to rid it of his saliva. 

My jaw clamps shut, a gurgling sound leaving his mouth. With demons, you could never be too sure so I jerk my head up, tearing his head off his shoulders. I stand, kicking his body over to his perfectly unbloodied chest. I tear open his shirt, thrusting my hand through his chest and pulling out his heart, pulling at his heartstrings literally and squeezing it as hard as I could until it popped under my strength.

Demons were hard to kill unless you were a fellow demon. 

His ribcage and stomach are next and I tear them up to burn the remains. I claw at his chest, tearing at the skin before stripping his pants, musing over what I should do. I decided to give into the temptation of burning my sigil in his body, putting a spell on him to avoid his body regenerating before clapping my hands, letting his body disappear, sending it to just outside my crypt.

I spit out a bit of the blood in my mouth and wandered around, glad to see that there was a clean enough looking lake. I fell into it, washing off the blood and giving myself a simple sniff to make sure I didn’t smell of blood popping a mint into my mouth and heading into town to reward myself with some new stationery. 

_**(description end)** _

Roman pissed me off far too much and he would have died at my hands eventually. It just happened to be a little sooner than he might have expected. 

~~~

“Rin? I’m so glad you’re back,” Beel runs up to me when I walk through the door of the house. 

“I told you not to run away from me!” he scolds lightly, giving me a hug before looking at me. 

“I know, I know. I just got a little distracted. I left you a note didn’t I? What happened to practice?” He shouldn’t have been home for another hour or two. 

“Yeah, I found the note in my locker when I went to look for you. Coach had to cancel practice.” I feel him grab for my hand. He was already a touchy demon but today he just kept hugging me. I didn’t mind though. 

“Roman wasn’t there.” 

“Really? What a shame. Too bad I guess.” He shrugs. 

“He was a good player but a scumbag of a demon. I was getting a little sick of hearing him talk about his conquests all the time. It’s like listening to Asmo and I don’t know how much more of that I can bear. Let’s go get something to eat now.” I grin. 

“Sure! I’m starving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to think that update schedule becomes weekends because I keep forgetting about Saturday


	14. Breakout

Belphegor sits up in the attic, lazily napping again. The human never came back after the first time they met him, annoying him. If she didn’t come up to save him, nobody would. He didn’t know when Lucifer would return and let him out, only coming up every week or so to ask him if he “learned his lesson”. He scoffed at the thought. 

Humans getting along with demons? How foolish. If it weren’t for humans, Lilith never would have died. If she never fell in love with one of those useless things she wouldn’t have crossed God. If she never crossed God they never would have had to fight Father. 

Lucifer was always too busy sucking Diavolo’s dick. He didn’t even bother to think about how much this hurt Belphegor, how much this would hurt his brothers if they found out. Of course he didn’t. Lucifer was too busy making sure that Diavolo was happy. Diavolo first, everybody else dead last. 

He grits his teeth in annoyance, unable to bear the thought of being stuck up here for eternity, his brothers constantly wondering where he was when suddenly, the door opens. The demon sat up, looking around. 

“Hello? Human?” he said. Did she come back? Was she the one that opened the door? 

No response. 

He stood up, giving a cautious step past the doorway. Nothing happened. He stepped out of the room. Nothing happened. 

A sick grin splits the demon’s face as he shifts into his demon form, tail whipping out of his back and teeth becoming more prominent in his jaw. He feels his physical body getting stronger, knowing that even Beel would have a hard time matching him if he didn’t shift himself. 

It was time to find that human of Diavolo’s and crush its windpipe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bby boi of a chapter - i might post another one


	15. A Family Matter

* * *

_ I wonder…if you didn’t leave me would I have ended up this way? _

* * *

“Rin.” I turn to see Lucifer glaring at me. “Come to my study.” 

I was sitting in Mammon’s room with him as he attempted to teach me poker - something I was failing miserably at. We weren’t able to hang out one on one as much since I started dating Beel. I was trying to make sure that he felt as though he could trust me no matter what, answering as many of his questions about myself that I can and it seemed to be working. He always gave me that soft smile and kept reassuring me that he’d care for me no matter what. 

“Oi, Lucifer what’s the big deal?” Mammon says. “Beel’s been hoggin’ her for days and this is the first time we’ve been able to hang out and you come and steal her?” 

Lucifer ignores him, walking away with the expectation that I’d follow. 

“Mammon, don’t. He doesn’t seem pleased,” I whisper. 

“I know,” he whispers back. “Somethin’ doesn’t seem right. I’ll be outside the office just in case somethin’ happens.”

“Thanks.” 

I go over to his study first, Mammon following afterwards. Lucifer closes the doors, luckily unable to see where Mammon was hiding from him. He points at one of the armchairs in front of his study’s fireplace, non-verbally telling me to take a seat. 

“As a human, I find there are some concerning things about your file. Why is it that you lack so much information?” he starts, circling around me. 

“I’m sorry. As far as I know my parents died years ago and I’ve been wandering around since.” Not a lie. 

“Strange. Don’t humans like you go to orphanages then?” He must be testing me for some reason. 

“Most the time. I was old enough by the time my parents were killed to get around without taking the government’s handouts.” As if any existed at the time.

“Strange. Why did you survive this killing then, and not your parents?” 

“I wasn’t a target.” Even if I tried, by then I was immortal.

“Did you kill them?” He stares me down, eyes narrowed as he awaits a response. 

“…yes.” I turn my head, crossing my arms. “That’s not an issue for you demons is it?” He shook his head. 

“No, it’s not. Tell me, are you a Satanist?” The name seems to roll off his tongue with disgust. 

“If you’re asking if I sacrificed my parents to Satan I’d say no. He’d know if I did.”

“Why do you want a pact with all my brothers?” He puts his hands down on the armchair, caging me in. 

“None of your business.” He slaps me. Hard. 

“Lucifer, what’s going on?” I ask. “Did I do something?” He stands back up, walking back over to his desk. 

“You have been running around this house freely, making pacts with my brothers, running upstairs to the attic to find nothing there, and now you’ve managed to woo Beel into dating you. I thought we could get along but it seems to me that with every day you spend with my brothers you become more and more likely to challenge my authority in this borrowed home of yours,” he says, sitting down in the desk chair. 

“I will be more inclined to forgive you if you can answer some questions for me.” He holds up my file. 

“A few weeks ago, Lord Diavolo and Lord Luciel, a fellow demon lord, came into my room. They said that you reminded them of someone. A demoness named Aiya. Do you know of her?” I nod, waiting to see where this would go. 

“You’re Japanese and so is she. I was hoping maybe you as a human would be able to enlighten me a bit. What do you know about her?” 

“I know how she was born.” He leans back into his chair. 

“All demons do. She was killed by humans, brought back by the wrath that she held at the time of her death. She’s a strange one, being both human and demon at the same time. I always wondered if she had children.” He looks at me expectantly, a laugh leaving my lips. 

“Sorry, you think I’m the child of a demon?” I asked. “If that were the case wouldn’t you have found out by now? Or a long time ago? I’ve been here for months Lucifer, I don’t think you’re that dumb, are you? Besides, you already know I killed my parents. Isn’t this like, a total plot hole?’

“There’s always the chance she gave you to human parents.I do have to ask then. What is this?” He waved his hands, two bottles appearing in it. My bottles. The suppressants. 

“Heat suppressants? Magic suppressants? Why was this in your luggage?” 

“Why were you goin’ through my shit?” I challenge, grabbing them from his open hand. “How do you even know what these things are? They’re human made.” 

“I’m not dense. Why do you have these? Were you going to use them on us? Drug our food and drink to impair our ability to think?” he suggests venomously. 

“There’d be no point. If you crush those up and eat them they don’t work. If I were to drug you, which I don’t want to do, I’d have to shove it down your throat.” I didn’t think I’d have to come clean this soon. 

“I noticed a disturbance up by the attic. At first I thought it was something that snuck in, ending up somewhere it shouldn’t have been. Later I realised that it was the energy of a demon. A very weak demon, but a demon nonetheless.” He seems restless, unable to sit still. He gets back up, now pacing the length of the room. 

“Why do you want pacts with all of my brothers?” he asks point-blank. I sigh, deciding to give him the best answer. 

“Belphegor.” His eyes snap to me as he hears the name of his imprisoned brother. 

“Belphegor asked me to make pacts with your brother to try and overwhelm the seal that you put over the door in the attic. He said he wanted to talk to you-that’s not a bad idea is it?” He slams his hands against the desk loudly. 

“How  **dare** you?!” he yells, shifting into his demon form again. Instead of fear, I feel almost apathetic. Lucifer really was willing to murder me over anything huh? I knew that I didn’t work hard on our relationship, but I had no grounds to make him befriend me. 

“Lucifer, you’re hiding a lot of stuff from your brothers, aren’t you? You can’t get mad at me. In comparison to you, I’m not hiding anything. The skeletons in my closet are living in yours.” This was obviously the wrong thing to say as his wings fluff out even further, sharpened teeth glinting in the candlelight. 

“You directly violated my orders!” he yells. “You dumb, insolent human!” 

“Lucifer!” Mammon screams, opening the door. “Belphegor’s here!” We both turned to the door, staring at him in confusion. 

“What?” Lucifer growls. “Rin?! Did you do this?!” I shake my head. 

“I can’t open that thing without you knowing!” He lunges forward to attack me but I feel Mammon pull me back, taking me to where the rest of his brothers stood. 

~~~

The foyer hosts five of the seven brothers, Mammon pulling Rin with him as Lucifer follows hot on their heels. Belphegor stands in the middle, eyes roaming around the room until they land on Rin. He grins maniacally, jumping at her before she has the chance to react to his presence in the room. 

**_(descriptions of choking, graphic violence begin)_ **

Immediately, she’s pinned underneath his grasp, coughing under the weight that he threw onto her chest. Belphegor feels her ribs snap underfoot and he had a feeling her spine was doing the same. Her hands go up to his wrist, trying to get him to let go of her throat. He squeezes hard, crushing her throat as she gags on the pressure he exerts, remaining perched on her stomach and ribs. 

“Look at how pathetic you are! How hard do I have to squeeze until you turn blue!? Don’t you humans change colour?!” he cackles, bringing up his other hand to scratch at her collar. 

“You really thought it was a good idea to let me go? Release me from the attic? Now, I’ll kill you and destroy Diavolo’s plan to unite the three realms!”

(descriptions of gore, body horror)

He lets go, listening to her attempts to catch her breath before bringing a hand down, digging his nails into her bone and dragging his fingers through her skin as hard as he could, practically ripping her open. The bones jut out of her skin, standing upright from the crater that he created in her body. He stopped over her breast, watching as the blood spills out of her, pooling beautifully under the pair. His other hand takes out an eye, bursting as he squeezes it between his fingers.

“Belphie stop!” Beel cries, unable to process what he was watching. 

He loves Belphie with all his heart, he loved all his brothers but watching him attack her was a shock to his system. It wasn’t even properly registering in his brain what he was currently watching happen. She was awake, she was  _ moving  _ just a second ago. Now, she lays perfectly still under his twin’s boots, the light laughter from Belphie’s lips dancing lightly through the air as her breathing stops.

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen a human bleed out underneath me~” he sings, leaning in closer to her. 

“I’m pissed that you managed to get so close to Beel. Didn’t he learn? Bad things happen when you get involved with humans! Don’t you remember what happened to Lilith?! Why the fuck is his scent all over you?!” he yells, raising a hand to deal yet another blow.. 

“Belphegor! Stop!” Diavolo runs into the foyer, tearing the demon off of Rin and inspecting her wounds. In his haste, he ended up worsening them, tearing a giant chunk out of her as Belphegor landed against the wall. 

(description warnings end)

“I thought something was off. Lucifer seemed too worked up. I thought that he’d try to attack Rin after Luciel’s visit but I had no idea that Belphegor was here. Barbatos,” he turns to his butler. 

“Arrest Belphegor.” 

“No!” Beel tried to get in between the two, refusing to let Belphie be taken from him a second time. His brothers try desperately to stop him, all grabbing a part of him to impede his movement. Barbatos came closer to the pile on the floor before Rin sist up in Diavolo’s grasp, grabbing his collar. 

“Don’t take him,” she manages to say. “I’ll deal with him.” 

“How are ya still alive?!” Mammon shouts, crouching next to her. “You should be dead! You-your heart’s stopped!” he cries in disbelief, hand over the space that used to house the organ. Despite his words, it was clear that he was near tears. All of the brothers were, except for Lucifer. 

“Get out of my way Diavolo or I’ll kill you too!” Belphegor screeched, ready to attack. 

“Barbatos,” Rin starts, glaring at the butler. “If you take a single step closer to that demon I’ll eat you. I swear it,” she hisses. The glint of fangs didn’t miss either of their sights. Barbatos looks to Diavolo who shakes his head, halting the butler’s movement. 

“What do you need?” Diavolo asks the dying creature, knowing that there was only a short window of time.

**_( cw // blood)_ **

Blood stains everything on her, the gaping hole in her throat and collar making it hard for her to speak. Her words were strained as she lost focus in her eyes, clutching to Diavolo for dear life. 

“Luciel. I need Luciel.” She coughs up even more blood before once again going limp in his hold. 

**_(cws // end)_ **

Diavolo picks her up, nodding to the brothers. 

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of her from here.” Beel stops the Demon Prince, looking at the crumpled body in his arms. 

“Are you going to be able to help her? She’s a human, humans don’t recover from things like this. And what about Belphie?” His voice broke as he realised that even though he got his brother back, it came at the price of the girl he grew to love. The others were still holding onto the large demon, all their hearts in their throats as they waited for Diavolo to speak.

“Beelzebub, she’ll be okay. I can promise that much at least,” Diavolo attempts to reassure, the anxiety rolling off the demons palpable.

Beel remembered when he talked to Rin before, when she was unconscious. She never said anything about it but it still brought his aching heart some bit of reassurance. He brings a bloodied knuckle to his lips, kissing it gently. 

“Why are you trying to save Belphie?” he asks gently. “Why do you keep doing this? My brothers and I just keep hurting you…” She doesn’t respond at all and Diavolo merely brushes him aside, taking her with him. 

“Lucifer. I hope you are willing to deal with the consequences of your actions,” Diavolo says as a farewell, Barbatos and him taking their leave.

Lucifer watched the entire scene in shock, not knowing what just happened. 

He didn’t think that this would happen. He was just going to interrogate Rin, try to get some answers out of her. He didn’t know that she was involved with this, he didn’t know she was the one who managed to get up to the attic. He didn’t know that Belphie was still so angry towards humans. He didn’t know what was going to happen next. If Lord Diavolo decided he was to be punished, there was no way his brothers would survive. 

“Of course my lord,” he says brokenly, their retreating backs remaining in his vision long after they left. 

There was going to be no way he’d be able to talk his way out of this one.


	16. Homecoming

* * *

_ Why did he have to take you away from me so soon? _

* * *

I find myself unable to open my eyes, the fatigue resting on my body far too heavy. The linen sheets of the bed and plush mattress simply help add to this feeling as I sink further into it, breathing in the familiar scent of Luciel. 

Luciel?! 

I sit up, eye adjusting to the lights of the lamps that he had. The gold and red colour scheme dominated the room, the deep red of the blanket making my eye not hurt too much. It didn’t look like anything had changed since I was here last. 

It was as luxurious as all hell, expensive tapestries and paintings filling the wall. The bed I sat one was one that I chose when we first wed, a massive canopy bed that had a red mattress and blanket with gold trim. Black curtains fell down from the top of the canopy, the only ones that were drawn being the ones directly at the foot of the bed. 

I lie back down into the pillows, glad to see that there were still just as many as there were last time. The window was open, allowing a light breeze to come in and tickle at my exposed skin. The giant bedroom doubled as an office, a desk and bookshelves sitting in front of the window. I looked over half expecting to see him sitting there and doing work, a little saddened not to see him there. Waking up alone sucked. 

“Aiya?” I turn to the sound of the voice, seeing the silhouette of Luciel through the canopy. 

“You woke up?” He comes to the side of the bed, a light smile on his face. 

“Well Sleeping Beauty, I’m glad to see you like this. Even if it’s with bandages practically making you a mummy.” 

I bring an arm up to feel my chest, wincing at the soreness of the muscles working. Just as he said, a bunch of bandages covered my chest and I could feel my ribs complaining with every breath that I took. My head hurt a lot too, and my eye socket seemed to pulse with pain, the skin around it stinging a bit as I touched it. 

“How bad was it?” I ask, my voice sounding gravely as all hell. 

“You’ve been out for a month recovering. I haven’t let anybody in here except for your doctors and some butlers. We’ve been doing our best to keep you alive. The doctors have been working your muscles so you should be able to get up and start walking around soon.” The bed shifts under his weight as he sits down next to me, pulling me into his chest. 

“I’ve been sleeping here too, giving you a bit of my magical energy at night.”

“Are you trying to tell me you fucked my sleeping body?” I wouldn’t put it past him. 

“No! I didn’t want to deal with you being angry once you got up. I’ve just been…holding you,” he says the last part softly, as though he didn’t want me to hear. 

“How do you feel?” I shifted around, moving away from his hold. 

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I put the heel of my palm to my forehead, curling in on myself as I feel my body screaming for sustenance of some sort. 

“I told you. I love you Aiya.” He takes my hands in his, staring at me intently. 

“Marry me. Marry me again. I promise I can treat you better this time. I know that we aren’t mates right now, that we aren’t meant to be according to the universe but that’s never stopped you has it? I know you’ve been with people that weren’t your mate so what’s so different about me?” I look at him, seeing the desperation in his face again. 

“Luci, I can’t,” I say. “It doesn’t matter what you say to me. Nothing will change what you did to me.” 

“But you said you’d do it. And you didn’t care.” 

“I didn’t, but it’s the thought of it, Luciel. I didn’t mind at all, but I have an issue with bein’ passed around like a damn toy without you askin’ me first. If you asked me then fine, whatever I’d do it if it made ya happy. But you didn’t care enough ‘bout my own happiness.” I sigh, swinging my legs over the bed. It seems he was kind enough to put a cane next to the bed, grabbing it in my hand to walk around. 

“I’m going out to the garden. Just leave me alone for a bit. I need to recharge alright?” He nods, opening the door for me and trailing behind until I reach the garden. 

“If you need something, just call. Here, I’ll leave this with you.” He hands me a spider, one of his familiars. 

“Thank you.” 

I take in a breath of fresh air, glad to be outside after what seemed like an eternity of dreamless sleep. It sucked not having vision in both eyes but that’s better than having no vision at all I suppose. The greenery of the flower bushes was a welcome change to the drabness of some of the Devildom buildings, the scent of the flowers wrapping around me comfortably. 

I pull the robe I wore tighter around me, digging my nose into the plush feathered lining. It helped keep me warm while my body struggled to regulate my own heat and I was just reminded again of how useless a human body could be. Everything still hurt and my stomach was upset that it was empty. 

I want Beelzebub. 

I feel my body double over in pain again as the urge to see him overrode all my senses. He was so warm and thinking about him made me giddy with joy. My brain begins to short circuit as it begins to obsessively think about every part of him. His lovely grin, the way his eyes lit up when he saw something good to eat, how hard he worked, how kind he was…everything in me was screaming to see the orange-haired demon, begging me to go see him, to visit him, to smell him, hold him, kiss him, lick him, f-

“Calm the fuck down!” I yell. “Chill the absolute fuck out man, you’re in no condition to do any of that,” I scream, feeling the heat die down. “S’not even time for your heat dumbass.” 

I lay down on the bench, feeling my bones crack with the surface. If I stayed here too long then my body would start to feel the consequences of it. I allow myself a minute or two, closing my eyes and taking in the energy around me before heading back into the palace, hunting down the kitchen. Having a human body that needed food mixed with the ridiculously fast metabolism of a demon was a pain sometimes. 

“Oh, My Lady!!” The chefs turned back to me, reminding me so much of the time at Diavolo’s castle. That felt like eons ago. 

“Are you hungry? Lord Luciel told us you might be here soon, here, sit, sit!” one of them says. Someone pulls me along to the dining hall, sitting me down as plates fly out of the kitchen.

“I hope that you enjoy the food!” they all chant, bowing out of the room and leaving me alone. 

I start to eat, eyeing Luciel and Diavolo as they walk in. Luciel raises an eyebrow, nonverbally asking if they could join me. I allow them, gesturing towards the dishes to tell him they could eat as much as they wanted. Even though I need a lot of food in me, my body would absolutely despise me if I ate too much at once. I had to focus on making sure that I took good care of myself and reintroduced food into my system properly. 

“I wanted to apologise to you Aiya,” Diavolo starts. “I didn’t realise that Belphegor was in the attic and that he would be so violent. Currently, he’s staying with the others at the House of Lamentation, as per your request to deal with him yourself.” 

“S’fine. How he holdin’ up?” 

“He almost killed you and you’re concerned about him?” he asks incredulously. 

“Nope. Worried about Beel. Seems to love Belphie a lot, an’ if something happens to him then it’ll cause issues for me. To be frank,” I look up at the two demon lords, narrowing my eyes. “I wouldn’t care if he dropped dead right now.” 

“Hah! Of course you don’t! That one-track mind of yours sure is something Aiya!” Luciel laughs. He turns to Diavolo, a wide grin on his face. 

“Something important to remember is that once Aiya’s mated, she doesn’t care about what she’ll have to do to keep her mate. The only reason why she told you to keep Belphegor with the others is to keep Beelzebub happy. So what I’m trying to say Diavolo is the only way you’ll be arresting Belphegor is to fight Aiya and if you remember,” he undoes the buttons of his shirt, revealing the giant scar on his chest that I gave him. “She’s not the easiest person to fight.” 

“Of course Luciel. You’re the more powerful one between the two of us after all. I remember how she dealt that wound. I didn’t realise demons could get so angry,” Diavolo laughs. We both stared at him blankly. 

“Diavolo, my cardinal sin is Wrath,” Luciel reminds him.

“My secondary sin is Wrath,” I add. “Of course the fight was awful. I’m just lucky I managed to charm Luciel well enough to distract him. If I didn’t, I would have walked away with a lot more than just those minor injuries he gave me.” 

“I understand, it’s just…I didn’t think that you would be that strong. I’m so used to seeing you be such a docile little creature I didn’t think you had it in you,” Diavolo attempts to explain. “I didn’t mean to offend you.” I roll my eye, winching a little at the effort. 

“Whatever. Is that the only reason why you came here? To apologise?” I ask.

“I needed to let you know that Lucifer’s getting incredibly obsessed with finding you out. I don’t know why. I think he’s gotten the inkling that Rin and Aiya are related somehow. The brothers told me that he’s been trying to decode your journals and he and Beel are fighting over you. Lucifer’s quite upset, I think you need to talk to him.” 

I look down to my plate. I was feeling better now, but there was no way I could face Lucifer in a fight the way I was right now. I would need some more time, a refresher on magic and spells. My body would need to recover fully from these wounds as well. It’d be some time before I could feel safe seeing the demon again. 

“I’ll do it in a month,” I say softly. 

“In a month I’ll talk to Lucifer and straighten everything out. However, in that month I expect you to help me out Luciel. I need to get back up to 100, no, 110% percent. I’m not going back to the House of Lamentation unless I can snap Lucifer’s neck in my jaws without breaking a sweat. That clear?”

“Of course, I’ll help you however I can,” Luciel says. “Consider it a favour.” I shake my head. 

“No. You promised me a favour at the beginning of this exchange program. I’m cashing it in now. You’re going to help me, no strings attached, got it?” I growl. He crosses his arms, displeased but knowing he couldn’t get out of it. 

“Fine. I’ll help you. That means I can’t make any requests of you, right?”

“Nothin’. We’re doin’ all this on my terms and with my fuckin’ rules. It’s time for a damn boot camp.”

~~~

“Well, it looks like all your stats are perfectly off the charts!” the doctor says. He shows me the chart and a lot of technical language that I don’t care about. The only thing I do care about is the diagram, displaying that my stats had indeed increased. We did the meeting in my bedroom at Luciel’s palace as I rest up, something that I was doing less and less of. 

Over the month I spent at Luciel’s I was constantly retraining my body, trying to restore it to its former glory. I didn’t realise how long it’d been since I trained properly and the centuries of neglect definitely did a toll on my abilities. 

Sure, they were well above average for a human but coming down to the Devildom and fighting higher-level demons made me realise just how weak I was in comparison to Luciel and his colleagues. The simple demons that went to school at R.A.D were easy pickings for me, but now they’d practically be bugs I could crush underfoot. 

Thanks to Luciel’s ranking, I was able to feed on the blood of some demons, cannibalising them to speed up the process of my healing and give me the energy I needed to further my strength. My body felt better then it had in years and I felt light on my feet. My wings were in desperate need of exercise since I concealed them for so long, racing other winged demons to bring my speed and agility back up. 

“I’m honestly impressed! Your bite force rivals Beelzebub’s and although your intellect isn’t as high as some of the other demons I’m sure you could destroy with your strength!” the doctor cheers. I narrow my eyes at him. 

“Are you calling me stupid?” He shrinks back at my glare, waving his hands in surrender. 

“No! No! You do have above average intellect but it’s not as high as the other demons that we’re comparing your data with. Take Satan for example, or Lucifer. Strategically, they’re stronger than you in that capacity. However, if we were to take your stats against them in a purely physical manner you’d win easily! It’s just they might outthink you.” I cross my arms. 

“Well, maybe it’s because I don’t exactly have the pleasure of using my brain to get myself out of sticky situations,” I pout, knowing that the doctor didn’t mean anything by it. 

“Of course, of course! After all, perhaps brute force is the best method! Meatheads do tend to be the ones who end up victorious in a vicious battle!” 

“Meathead!? Excuse me, I didn’t think I let you call me that,” I growl. 

“Let’s just move on! Of all the demons in the Devildom, you know that Luciel is one of the best at magical spells. Judging off your reports, your magic capabilities seem to match his, falling short just a bit because you aren’t as well versed in dark magic as Luciel is. Your strength lies more within offensive or defensive spells. However, your charms are quite useful.

“Your vocal training has increased your range of effect and is much more effective, able to charm more demons, and keep them in your trance for longer. In regards to charming people through sight alone, it looks like the only person who you can compete against would be Asmodeus himself. That’s how it is with most of this honestly.” He continues to flip through pages. 

“If you were to fight them individually, I think you would be fine. Together as a group would be a challenge.”. 

“The brothers get along famously; I think they’d kill each other before me,” I sigh. “If they properly fought me, I don’t think I’d win. I doubt anyone would really. They’re still incredibly powerful demons.” 

“Yes, yes. You however specifically said you wanted to be able to take Lucifer, correct?” he asks.

“Of course. I want to be able to fight him just in case something happens. More of a defensive thing you know?” I answer.

“Well, you know already that Beelzebub is the most physically capable of all the brothers, and up in Heaven he was strong enough to be considered Lucifer’s right hand man and the head of Lucifer’s personal guard. It looks here if you two were to fight each other you might be able to win if you manage to land the first punch. In the case of you two it's a matter of first hit and stamina. So you should be able to fight Lucifer if he doesn’t outsmart you. Move fast.” I groan. 

“I’m not a demon cut out for speed. I’m more a punchy-punch you know?” 

“I already told you that before and you got mad!” I roll my eyes. 

“You called me a meathead. Get with the program.” It seems the two of us were getting fed up with each other. 

“Well, that’s all I have to say to you then My Lady.” The doctor bows out of my bedroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts. 

“Well, that sounded like a fun conversation!” Luciel beams, walking into the room as soon as the doctor left. 

“He’s not wrong you know; it wouldn’t kill you to think a little.” I throw a pillow at him, making him laugh. 

“Can you all leave my intellect alone? I get that I’m dumb for a demon but I’m smart for a human alright,” I pout. He only continues to laugh, patting my head. 

It looked like the years softened him up. Before, he was a ruthless ruler, killing and fucking anything he wanted. During my stay here he was constantly kissing up to me and trying to please me, most likely a result of his failed marriage proposal from before. 

“The brothers have been asking about you nonstop. All of them except for Lucifer of course. I haven’t told them anything about what you’ve been doing. Only that you’re well.” He sits on my bed, leaning against the headboard next to me.

“You’re going to be leaving today?” I nod. 

“I should be getting back now. Plus, I kinda miss Satan’s cooking. He’s a good chef.” 

We sit in silence. I did miss the others a lot and felt bad for Lucifer. Keeping such a big secret from Diavolo was sure to have given him some sort of punishment. And I didn’t know what I did to piss him off so much, but I knew that I should at least apologise for antagonizing him so much. 

“…I’m assuming we aren’t going to get remarried?” I laugh, returning the head pat he gave me before. 

“Not for a while Luciel, not for a while. I don’t love you that way anymore.” My heart still misses Beelzebub every day I was separated from him.

“I understand,” he says. I raise an eyebrow at him quizzically. 

“Sayin’ that when we were married would get me yelled at. What’s the deal? You’ve been a little too nice to me.” I worry he has some ulterior motive.

“I’ll be honest with you. You were the first person to reject me in my entire life. First and only person. When you left me I thought that I didn’t care. I didn’t think that I loved you at all when you left because by then we were fighting all the time and you spent all your time with the brothers and even though your body was riddled with scars, it was clear that they gave you something I couldn’t. I couldn’t give you whatever it was that you wanted and I blamed you.” He laughs bitterly. 

“I made myself feel better by calling you a whore, by telling the others how much of a whore you were. I’m sure that was the tipping point for you. Anybody could see that. It took me a few decades to realise that you were really gone forever. The more time that passed with you never showing up in Hell other than to drop off bodies for your crypt made me realise that I did fuck up.

“I don’t apologise easily and I don’t intend to right now. I just wanted to tell you that you were right. I didn’t love you properly when we were married. I lusted after you so hard that I confused it with love and I strung you along. We had our moments where I realised, yeah I do love this demon, but the appeal with you was never emotional. It was physical. But when you left, I realised that you warmed me up in a way I didn’t know until you left.” 

“So what? You just wanted a hot piece of meat to fuck for a few centuries?” I run my fingers through my hair, his name on my body seeming to burn with this revelation. 

“I can’t believe that I loved you as much as I did Luciel.” I stand up, shaking my head.

“I can’t believe this shit.” I grab his collar and shove him up against the wall, glad that for once he was letting me do whatever I want with him. 

“I loved you, and you knew that. You still know that. How I fell in love with such an inconsiderate bastard is a question that will haunt me for the rest of my days. The only thing I can thank you for is sheltering me for these two months. I hope that the thought of what we could have been keeps you up at night.” I drop him, turning to leave. 

“Did you ever lie to me? About me being the last one?” he asks, voice sounding small for once. 

“You mean what Park said to me?” He nods. 

“Pa-” I growl, nails turning to talons as I shove them into his throat. 

“Keep his name out of your filthy mouth. He doesn’t deserve to have your voice tarnish his name. He wasn’t lying to me. He thought that you’d be my last husband. That’s why it hurt me so much to leave you. I thought I found the one. Obviously not.”

I take my nails out of him, shaking all of the blood off before saluting him a farewell. 

“I’m going up to the human world for a week. I have some graves to visit and people to say hi to. Don’t talk to me ever again. If you have somethin’ to say to me, get someone else to play messenger. I can’t promise I won’t be angry at you.” 

I snap my fingers, opening my eyes to see the sun again after so long, landing myself in an American graveyard. I walked carefully, making sure that I didn’t disturb any of the graves. I’d feel awful if I accidentally disturbed the grave of someone who despised demons. 

Eventually, I found the stone I was looking for. It was an old grave, one from a very long time ago. I knelt down, glad to see that the stone was seemingly well kept. The name on the stone was one that I couldn’t get out of my mind. It sat in the back of my brain, gently asking me to remember. To think about what happened. Then, it hit me. The nice woman from so long ago! The one that wasn’t actually a human. 

“Oh! I remember now!” I say to the grave, stepping to the side of it. “Sorry for standing on you, I hope you don’t mind.” I crouch down beside it. 

“Nee~” I drawl. “You think that it’s alright for me to be with Beelzebub? ’ll leave him alone if you give me a sign ma’am.” 

I wait for a minute, watching to see if anything would happen. A crow lands on the gravestone, peering at me curiously. A fly lands on the ground next to it and I wait with bated breath to see what will happen.

The crow leans down, eyes inspecting the small insect who didn’t fly away at the sight of the predator. They seem to be staring at each other before the crow leaves, the fly coming up towards me and landing on my nose. I smile at it, shaking my head to let it fly away. 

“Thanks a lot. I’ll take that as a good thing?” I ask. The wind blew a flower into my hands. The head of a red tulip. I grin before putting the flower down on the plaque, finding six more. Blue, yellow, orange, green, pink, and lastly violet before walking away, humming happily as I went away to look for the other graves I needed to visit. 

_ IN LOVING MEMORY OF: _

_ LILITH ---------- _

_ 18XX - 18XX _

_ A LOVING SISTER, MOTHER, WIFE. _

_ MAY SHE REST WITH THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN, FREE OF THE DEVIL’S GRASP _


	17. Days Gone By

* * *

_ Do you resent me for not bearing your child? _

* * *

It was sometime in the 19th century. 18 hundred something. It didn’t matter to her. She was between husbands right now, so time was just some construct for humans to keep track of the days that passed. Creatures like her didn’t need any of it anymore. 

She was walking through the main street of the city again, people watching out of boredom. Most people ignored her or stared at her in open-mouthed shock. It was to be expected after all. Not only was she dressed like a man with her jacket and pants, but she was Asian, an oddity for the United States of America at the time. But, all of these traits made her easy to find. 

Lilith, a young woman born to a poor family was looking for her. The young blond ran around the street frantically, blue skirts fluttering about as she inspected any figure that looked like it could be a woman with dark hair. She heard that the lady was a skilled doctor, another oddity that added to the woman’s eccentricity. Rumours were spun of the woman’s skills. Somehow, she was better than any other doctor and able to solve any ailment that struck and because of that she stayed close to government officials. 

“Excuse me!” Lilith tapped the shoulder of a man in front of her. “I heard that there was an Asian woman here today! Dressed as a man?” 

“Oh! You must be looking for Lynn, right?” Strange, the name didn’t sound Asian at all. 

“I-is she Japanese?” Lilith asked. The man nodded, pulling her along. 

“She’s a friend of mine! Come along now! Call me Alfred!” 

The two walked around, Alfred making light conversation. 

“She’s been an old friend of mine, practically raised me as a child. Why do you want to see her? If you tell me I might be able to convince her to help you out! She’s a really nice person, just a little rough around the edges.” The man seemed to be very kind, smiling at her happily. 

“Oh. I’m Lilith. My husband has fallen gravely ill. None of the other physicians know what’s going on and I don’t have enough money to pay for a very skilled doctor. We’ve almost gone broke trying to pay just for consultations.” Tears began to fall from green eyes. “I don’t know what I’ll do without him. I’m willing to do anything if it means I can save him,” she said resolvedly. 

Alfred eyed the cross on her chest, unsure if Rin would want to help her. 

“Are you religious?” he asked. 

“Yes, very,” she nodded. “If I don’t have faith in the Lord I don’t know what else I have. After all, it is thanks to Him that I live and breathe today. And it will be thanks to Him that I have been able to stay strong for my dearly beloved.” Alfred shrugged. 

“If you ask me, and Lynn later we’d say isn’t God that did this to you?’” The woman paused, knowing that the same thought crossed her mind. Sometimes, she wondered if it was right what she did, putting her faith into a holy father. 

Eventually, they reached the center of town and Lilith’s eyes landed on a woman sitting by herself on a bench, writing in some kind of a book. Almost as though she felt her gaze on her, the woman looked up, dark eyes enchanting Lilith’s as soon as they met. The woman was unlike any other she had ever met in her life, gaze intense. Her clothes even seemed a bit outlandish, but that was expected from someone who was described as eccentric. 

The stranger’s eyes landed on Alfred and she stood, walking over to the pair. She and Lilith stand at the same height, and yet something about her made her feel so small in the woman’s presence. Alfred nudged her gently, urging her to introduce herself to the stranger. 

“My name is Lilith,” she said slowly, dragging out the syllables. “How are you?” The woman scoffed, smirking a bit. 

“Call me Lynn darlin’. No need for that patronising bullshit.” Her words were tinted with an English accent, making Lilith embarrassed. She assumed that she wouldn’t know English.

“I’m sorry ma’am. I just assumed-”

“Assumed I didn’t know English. Happens a lot. Regardless.” She looked over at Alfred, a question in her eyes. Alfred sighed. 

“Listen, Lilith said her husband is sick. She wants to know if you can help.” Lynn crossed her arms. 

“Right. And what do I get paid?” Lilith dreaded the question. 

“I-I don’t have much I can pay you with. I can offer you my personal services. I can clean, cook, teach, anything you need I can do! Please, I’m begging you!” Amusement lit up her eyes as she watched Lilith beg. 

“Interestin’. That a cross on your chest darlin’?” she asked, leaning down to inspect the pendant. Lilith nodded, looking back at her. Lynn sighed, waving her hand. 

“Take me to him. I’ll see what I can do. Payment we can negotiate later.” 

“Really?” Lilith felt her hopes soar. A skilled doctor was willing to help her, ignoring the fact that she couldn’t pay? She thanked the lord in her mind, running through the streets to head to the little run down building she called home. 

Despite how little money they had, she knew that they were lucky to still have a home, passed down from Adam’s parents when they died. It was a sad reality they had to live through, but it gave them a place to stay. She led the doctor through her door, suddenly insecure of the space. Lynn obviously came from money, sleek hair and clothes showing that she had never been through a hard day in her life. 

“I know it’s not much, but I hope you can look past it. It’s really quite a comfy home,” Lilith said, clearing her throat. 

“Not an issue. Show me your husband.” Curt and businesslike. 

She led her to the bedroom where Adam laid resting. Her husband slept a lot now, the illness taking a huge toll on his body. Lilith couldn’t explain what happened. One day he was fine and then she returned home from church and saw him passed out on the ground. Nobody could figure out what was wrong with him.

“Please, leave the room. I’ll conduct my physical without your presence,” she said, shooing Lilith. 

“What? I want to be with him!” Lilith didn’t know how he’d react if a strange woman was poking and prodding at him while he slept. 

“Leave or the man dies of sickness. Your choice.” 

“Fine. But please, make it fast.” A laugh escaped her perfectly painted lips. 

“Oh sweetheart, you aren’t in the position to make demands of me. I’ll do what I need to.” Lilith nodded, unsure if this was the right thing for her to do. 

A few anxious moments pass, the ticking of the clock only adding to her nerves. It was taking quite a while but she didn’t hear anything coming from the bedroom so Adam must not have woken up. She wondered what was taking the other woman so long. Maybe she lied to Lilith and actually wasn’t the right person she was looking for. Maybe that person didn’t exist after all, and it was just some ruse to scam people out of their money. But she didn’t give her any money. 

“I’m done.” Lynn returned, putting her gloves back onto her hands. Lilith didn’t miss the glint of all her rings and she had the feeling that one of her rings would cost well more than the money Lilith would ever see in her life. 

“Your husband is fine. He’ll wake up some time tomorrow. I’ve finished his treatment.” 

“Oh thank you! However could I repay you?” she asked, ready to give up most anything. Lynn stared at her, eyes looking for something. 

“You said your name is Lilith right?” She nodded. A look of something in the woman’s eyes flashed. Recognition? Fear? 

“I won’t charge you,” she said suddenly. “I’ll be your physician from here onwards, free of charge.” 

“What?! Why?!” A lopsided grin formed on her face. 

“Ever heard of Lilith, the Fallen Angel?” She nodded. 

“My parents named me after her in hopes that I’d do the opposite. Stick to God instead of defying him the way she did.” Lynn nodded. 

“Call me superstitious, but I don’t mind helping out the namesake of an angel,” she said.

“Well, I’ll be back tomorrow. It’ll do us well to get acquainted.” And with that she left the small home, leaving Lilith with more questions than answers. 

~~~

Lilith watched her raise the cup to her lips, eyes fascinated by the number of rings she wore. She knew that there were some obscenely rich people in the world, but she never thought that she’d be entertaining one. Lynn never once complained about how low quality the things Lilith had to offer her were, taking them with a simple thanks each time. 

The two began to spend more and more time together, Lynn occasionally asking her questions about her life but for the most part they simply enjoyed each other’s company. Now, Lilith was pregnant and Lynn was keeping track of her pregnancy. Adam was able to find a new job thanks to Lynn’s recommendations, making it so that they’d have enough money saved away for their child. 

“Is something the matter?” she asked Lilith, catching her stare. 

“O-oh. Nothing. I just was wondering, I hope it’s not rude of me to ask, but I wanted to know, how do you get enough money to pay for all that jewellery? If you’re working with me all the time you must not have any time to work with other clients. Doesn’t that make it hard for you to get money?” 

“These? I didn’t buy them dear. They’re presents from old friends of mine. I don’t work too much, you are right about that. I just have enough money saved that I don’t need to work too hard anymore.” 

“I see.” The two sit in silence before Lynn spoke up, eyeing the cross on her chest. 

“You really feel like religion’s the best thing for you?” she asked. “I mean, I just want to hear your thoughts.” 

“You aren’t religious?” Lilith asked. 

“Ah. Not in the sense you think. It’s a little hard to explain my thoughts about it. I do acknowledge the existence of a higher power, and the power of the universe. That does exist. However, do I want to listen? I’ll give it a good 70% of the time.” 

“Well, for me I grew up in the church.” Lilith sighed, staring at the table in front of her. 

“Maybe it’s my namesake cursing me but sometimes I question if I’m right to follow my faith so closely. Sometimes, I find that perhaps Lucifer might have been onto something. An angel as brilliant as he once was, falling to Hell after fighting God? What did he think was so worth fighting for? To have conviction that strong I think there must have been a good reason for it, right?” 

“You’re not wrong. Challenging someone as powerful as God themself? Takes massive balls if you ask me,” Lynn replies. 

“Do you think sympathising with Lucifer is wrong?” Lynn shook her head. 

“Between me and you, I’m sure that he had a good reason as you just said. Other angels must have fallen with him right? If they didn’t then the whole concept of fallen angels would fall apart. If only one fallen angel existed then why bother with a whole subcategory?” 

“You have a point.” 

“Besides, what if he’s just a nice guy that was misunderstood. He’s one of seven sins right? What about the others? How did they get there?” Lynn leaned back, eyes going up to the ceiling. 

“If you ask me, the big guy upstairs did that. Whatever goes on, he signs off on. He, or some high ranking angel. Maybe Lucifer got sick of signing off on the suffering, or something happened to slight him. Maybe the seven sins were born from the qualities that somebody important decided were bad ones and threw them down, forcing them to take form.

“I don’t believe in the concrete idea of good or bad. Everything exists up to the next thing. Lines blur and concepts exist.” She laughed. 

“I guess that I just asked you a question and went on and on. Sorry about that.” Lilith shook her head. 

“No, it’s fine. You have a point. Something does just seem confusing about this, all of this. I guess it's because we as humans don’t have all the answers to everything, do we?” Lilith asked. Lynn suddenly looked at her intensely. 

“I’m going to say something that won’t make any sense to you right now, but one day it’ll make sense to you alright? Just, take it all with an open mind. If it’s not meant for you, then that’s fine. Knowing this won’t hurt you at all. It’s not about you, but it is at the same time okay?”

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean what I said. This message is meant for you, but not for the you I see in front of me right now. Now, I know your soul must want the answer for this and if I did choose the right person, then you’ll understand this with time.” Lilith nodded hesitantly. 

“They’re all safe, all seven of them. I’m sure they miss you a lot, but the last time I saw them they were a lot better than when they first landed. You don’t need to worry your pretty little head about them alright? I’m sure they’d be glad to hear how happy you are too. God knows they worked hard for it.” She stood when she finished speaking, kicking the chair into its place at the table. 

“I-what does that mean?” Lynn ignored the question, shrugging her coat on. 

“I’ll be by tomorrow. Make sure you eat well and get some rest. Don’t think too hard about it angel.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OM gives no explanations on anything so I get my world-building rights   
> If you know the cameo no you don't >:3c


	18. Reunion

* * *

_ The bed feels so cold without you. _

* * *

Beel hears the creaking of the doors to the House of Lamentation open from the kitchen but ignores it. It must have just been one of the others returning home from class. 

It had been two months since Belphegor attacked and Lucifer was not getting any better. Belphie attempted to reconcile with the brothers, failing pretty miserably for the most part. Even Beel felt a little uncomfortable around his twin, unable to see the demon without the blood of his short-term girlfriend on his hands. He slept in Rin’s room more often now, missing her scent and pretending the mess of pillows and blankets was her in his arms. 

His hunger only got worse from then on. He couldn’t stop eating. He couldn’t before but now it was pretty much impossible. He didn’t know anything that was happening with her. If she was safe, if she was even in the Devildom. There was a very good chance that she was forced to go back to the human realm for fear that she’d be further attacked if she stayed here. 

Beel felt like crying a lot of the time recently. He had to watch his brothers stay fighting, all of them angry at each other for the way that things turned out. Belphie gave him a half-hearted apology, tacking Lilith’s death as the main reason why Rin needed to die. He knew that Belphie had a point but he at least wanted to be able to say bye to her before she left. He wasn’t allowed to. And even then, she was the one who ended up saving Belphie from Diavolo’s wrath and he didn’t even seem to care. 

Lucifer was the worst. He had to deal with the guilt of all of this happening and Beel knew it was crushing his oldest brother. Now, Lucifer rarely left his study and when he did he just looked like a disheveled mess. Mammon was the only one who could see Lucifer without getting yelled at and he told the others that Lucifer was just looking for something that he desperately needed an answer to. 

The clacking of heels made its way closer to him, making him think that it was Asmo that just got back. Ever since Rin left he seemed to be partying even more, unable to cope with the fact that one of the few people who understood him left. 

“Hello. What’re ya doin?” Beel looks down, staring at the person who managed to sneak their way in between him and the counters. 

“Rin?!” He couldn’t believe his eyes. She stood in front of him, a silly grin on her face and arms open for a hug. 

“The one and only! Hey! Beel!” She laughs as he picks her up, hugging her tightly to him.

Her laugh sounds right in his ear as she rests her head against his shoulder. Soft breathing tickles the side of his neck as he revels in her embrace, feeling as though it was too good to be true. It wasn’t just a dream, right? He’d been having a lot of dreams about her recently. 

She seemed to have gotten a little heavier, softer parts of her body now a little tougher. There was a denseness about her weight now, making him think that she worked out a lot while she was gone for those two months. He didn’t even want to pull back to look at her, missing how she felt against him too much but he was conflicted because he wanted to look at her face, see how she was smiling at him.

“Beel, I feel like a bit of a baby now that you’re holdin’ me like this.” He ignores her, only hugging her even tighter to him. 

“I missed you so much,” he breaths, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “How are you alive?” 

“Scoot back from the counter a bit and you’ll understand in a second,” she says softly, a hint of anxiety in her voice. “I think I’m gonna hafta come clean now.” 

He does as she asks, stepping away from the counter and turning around as she directed him to. She hugs him tighter, a bit of wetness landing on his neck.

“You won’t hate me, right?” She sounds like a child that had just been scolded, clinging desperately to his back. 

“I won’t. I never stopped thinking about you,” he says, pressing a soft kiss to her lips before letting her continue. If he knew how long she would have been gone for he would have kissed her more before she was torn away from him.

“I need you to move your hand away from my back okay? If your hands are there you’ll drop me.” He nods, moving both his arms down to support her bottom, letting her wrap her legs around his waist, reminding him of the first time they kissed. 

As soon as his hands shift he hears the loud snap of wings opening, not unlike how angels opened their wings back in the Celestial Realm or how Lucifer’s wings opened. He stares as massive black wings take up all the open space in the kitchen, even though they were slightly scrunched up. Her whole wingspan must have been bigger than the small space that they were both in right now.

“You got turned into a demon?” he asks, conflicted. On one hand, that meant that they could be together forever. On the other, being a demon wasn’t an easy thing to live as. 

“No Beel, I’ve always been a demon. I was never human.” She loosens her grip on him, ready to leave if he asked. 

“I need to talk to all of your brothers. About this, about the past. Everything needs to be put into the open right now. I’ve been found out and I fear that hiding it from you any longer won’t be good.” Beel nodded, putting her down. 

“I can text everyone to come to the common room.”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate that.” 

~~~

“Rin!” All the other demons were gathered in the room already, waiting on Lucifer who just walked in. His eyes narrowed at her as he strode over, hand reaching out to grab her collar. She pushes it aside, kicking him into a chair. 

“You’re all going to sit here, and you’re going to behave yourselves. I won’t be using the pacts as a show of trust. Lucifer, you will stay there because I told you to. I know you know things and I know you’re assuming things. I intend to answer all your questions right now,” she announces, sitting on top of an armchair instead of in it. 

“Firstly,” her wings snap open to punctuate her sentences, a loud clinking sound ringing through the air as the feathers turned metallic, wrapping around most of her body. “This is insurance. I’m not dumb enough to try and fight you all at once, but I will do my best to defend myself. Looking at you Belphie.” 

“Secondly, yeah. I lied to you all. Not exactly in the way you think though. I told 95% truths. Yes, I wanted to make pacts with you all. Yes the reason turned to saving Belphie. But first, it was for my own protection. I wanted pacts with all of you so that I could have a final trump card, just in case something were to happen during my time down here. Now that I’m telling you everything, I may as well just break the pacts and ask you to resign them on your own terms. I decided to save Belphegor after I found him, after Leviathan’s pact.” 

“That’s a massive breach of trust,” Satan growls. She glares back at him. 

“I’m not the one who made the pacts so easy. I don’t have any pacts anymore and the only pacts I did make I made sure were with people I would die for. You guys made pacts with the first damn thing that did something you liked. Anyway, I’m not here to attack you. Any of you.”

“Roman’s body was found near Aiya’s crypt,” Lucifer says. “It seemed strange. Why would a demon such as her go after such a low ranking demon?” 

Rin eyes the demon, seeing the fatigue that was clear on him. He was a mess, and it didn’t take a genius to figure that out. His hair was disheveled, his coat was gone, his shirt was unbuttoned and the bags under his eyes were only lighter than his black hair. It didn’t even look like he was trying to sustain his body, cheeks a little hollower and body seeming just the slightest bit thinner. 

“Do ya know why Aiya’s here Rin? Lucifer thinks you and her are related somehow, and he wants to meet her,” Mammon asks. He turns to address his brothers. 

“Lucifer told me that when we fell, Lilith wasn’t dead.” Gasps sound through the room. 

“Lilith…didn’t die?” Levi reaffirms softly, staring at his two older brothers. “Where is she then? Why hasn’t she come to see us?!” 

“That’s what I want to ask Aiya,” Lucifer says, finally collapsing under the burden of all the secrets he kept. 

“When we first fell, Diavolo managed to save her. He kept her alive long enough for Aiya to take Lilith up to the human realm to be reborn. I don’t know when she was born, or where she went. Only Aiya did.” 

“She can do that?” Asmo asks. “I didn’t know her magical capabilities were that strong!” Lucifer shakes his head.

“They aren’t. Diavolo told me she had a couple favours with powerful people. She, like many demons, understands the idea of bringing back humans and can practice the art of bringing the dead back to life. That, combined with a favour, made it possible for her to bring back Lilith. However, the only condition was that she’d have to be human. I agreed, and Diavolo sent Lilith off.

“If I pledged my eternal loyalty to Diavolo, he’d help Lilith. If I didn’t, then Lilith would have had to die there. She didn’t deserve that. You all know that.” Lucifer buries his face into his hands. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this before.”

“Make sense now?” Mammon addresses the others. “Lucifer has to be loyal to Diavolo. He had no choice. I’ll give y’all a moment to just digest that.”

“She was alive?” Belphegor says. I forgot that he was there. “Diavolo saved her?”

“Were you even listening Belphie?” Satan starts. “He did, but he didn’t do any of the actual work. The way Lucifer phrases it makes it seem like Diavolo just shipped her off. Aiya’s the one who actually did something. I may not have been able to meet Lilith personally but I would like to know what happened to her as well. I loved her too.” He turns to Rin. 

“If you know anything, I know my brothers would greatly appreciate you telling them, whatever it is.” 

She takes a deep breath, steeling herself for the next big reveal. It was going to be something that she feared would make them despise her. After all, keeping such a massive secret about their beloved sister after she just remembered her could be taken one of two ways. The first being that they’re so glad she could tell them about Lilith that they forget to think that she “hid” it from them. The second being they try to kill her because she “hid” it from him. 

“When you all fell, I saw it topside. I was on the Earthly Realm when eight stars fell. My eyes caught on them because they were so different. The light was much more brilliant than any other star I saw and I was pulled down to see Lucifer and Lilith, dying in the garden. She was so weak the moment I saw her I knew that she wouldn’t survive.

“After Diavolo told me to take her, I did. I asked a friend of mine to pull some strings and I brought her back to life. Sorta. It was more like I gave her the ability and then somebody bigger than me, bigger than us would choose when she would come back. I bound a bit of our energy together so that there was a slight chance I could find her later out of my own morbid curiosity.”

“Are you telling me that you’re Aiya?” Lucifer asks incredulously, looking at the human-no, demon properly for the first time since she arrived. “You’re telling me that you kept this from me this entire time?!” 

“I’m not! Lucifer, I didn’t remember! Do you know how much was going on when you fell?! I’m begging you, just listen to me for a second!” she yells back, countering him immediately. 

“Lilith falling was only one small part of that tale. I asked my friend to seal the memory of the event until I would need it again because I didn’t want to know. Knowing something like that would endanger not just Lilith as a human, but you guys as well. If an angel somehow found out what happened, they could ask me and I don’t lie. Asking me directly would make me liable to exposing the truth and then what?!” Her wings come up even closer to surround her. 

“Lucifer, I did it out of concern for your brothers. I hated seeing Diavolo take advantage of you. I can’t stand those things. If it were me, I would have helped you all out, free of charge. But, here we are.” She laughs bitterly. 

“If anybody’s upset, it should be me. You all hurt me so much. But, I don’t blame you. I don’t blame any of you. You needed help with your heats, I knew that. Luciel bribed me into doing it as did Diavolo and I did it. I wanted to help you, and I got helped out afterwards too. But, you don’t understand how bad it hurt me.” 

“Wait, so that means…” Asmo drifts off, realising what she was talking about. “I-I thought it was a succubus.” She shakes her head. 

“I altered some of your memories the slightest. It’s a loose spell, so you would have been able to remember a tiny bit afterwards. That’s why you remember bits and pieces. A succubus wouldn’t be able to take your energy. It was still too holy for most creatures. Except for me.

“I was lucky I got away with just burns. Other creatures would have just burst into flames immediately. But, you know even though I went into it with no regard for my own safety, you were all really nice to me.” A slight smile makes its way to her face. 

“I could tell that you all cared, even if you were a little feral. There was always something in the back of your eyes, an apology that I could see. No matter how crazy things got, or how bad your need was, I felt like you loved me in some weird way. It was nice. Lucifer, I’m sure you know that at the time, Luciel and I were fighting all the time. Diavolo told me that he told you about it. You and your brothers managed to somehow give me a bit of tha intimacy that I crave so much as a Demon of Lust, and gave me the strength somehow to leave him. I guess after bedding you all several times I realised how strong I actually am. Anyways!” She claps, a sharp sound in the silent room. 

“I just wanted to tell you about Lilith, not some sob story about my life.” Rin wipes a slight tear away from her face, exhaling loudly. 

“After staying with Luciel for so long, I finally remembered about her. I went up to the human world to look for Lilith’s gravestone and once I got there, I remembered everything. It was weird. I felt her presence at the stone and she seemed to be happy. I’m not sure if she’s here. It looks like she didn’t go up to heaven.” 

“Can you tell us about her?” Beel asks softly, the only one who was trying to approach her. “What she was like as a human?” 

She watches him carefully, unsure of what he was going to do. He beckons her to near him with a hand and her eyes shift from his outstretched fingers to his face. She backs away a bit, wings pressing against her back not unlike a cat’s ears going against their head. 

“I’m not angry,” he reassures. “We just want answers. I’m sure my brothers agree,” he continues, looking around the room to see nodding heads. 

“Lucifer? You’ve been awfully quiet,” Rin points out, addressing the eldest demon. “I understand this is a lot and I’m really glad you’re not trying to kill me like Belphie did. I can tell you everything, but pardon me for being more than just a bit cautious.”

“…was she happy?” Lucifer asks. “Was she happy as a human? How long did you spend with her?” 

Beel smiles slightly at her, trying to convince her to come down from her perch on the chair. She eyed the others carefully, trying to see what they thought about the situation. For the most part, there was no hostility. In Belphegor’s eyes, she saw mainly just questions and an eager, yet sad curiosity. She moves to take Beel’s hand, the demon pulling her into his lap to sit in the chair. Her anxiety begins to overwhelm him now that they were closer, making him realise just how nervous this entire situation must have been making her.

“It’s okay,” he whispers to her. “None of us are angry. We just want to know.” 

“I was her physician for most of her life. Once I got past the age where I could pass as a woman with a young face I hired some other doctor to work in my place. She seemed happy enough. Her husband got a better job for them after I met them and they had three children if I recall correctly. She died an old lady before her husband did, so she didn’t have the sadness of mourning her husband and she was surrounded by the people she loved when she died I think. I wasn’t able to be there until after her funeral. Didn’t want to be recognised.” She shrugs. 

“I don’t know anything other than that. My job wasn’t to be her babysitter, just her doctor. I just have a general idea of her life. I did tell her that you were all okay though. That’s it. I got nothin’ else for ya.” 

“She was happy?” Belphegor begins to walk over to Rin. “You aren’t lying, are you?”

“Step away first Belphegor. Sorry, but I don’t really trust you right now.” She watches the Avatar of Sloth carefully, hand coming up to her throat protectively. She lets herself relax when he goes to sit back down. 

“She seemed very happy. That’s all I have. I don’t know if you want to visit her grave, but if you want to I’ll take you one at a time. All seven of you at once will be quite a sight.”

“That’s fine. Just telling them is enough I think,” Mammon says. “You’re tired, right? Beel, why dontcha take her up to your room to nap? I think we have a lot to process right now. Lucifer, you should rest too, ya look like you’re ready to collapse.” 

“Rin? I’ll take you upstairs then and come back down here. Belphie will be here with the others. You’ll be okay, alright?” She nods at his words.

“Thank you Beelzebub,” she mutters, fatigue setting in as the adrenaline starts to leave her body.

She feels herself become lax in his arms, curling up to his chest as he carries her into his room. He tucks her in, pressing a kiss to her forehead and sitting next to her. Her eyes are half lidded with sleep as she looks back at him, a soft adoration in her eyes. 

“Thank you Beelzebub,” she says again, struggling to keep her eyes open. “After all this calms down, let me take you out on a proper date huh?”

“I’d like that a lot,” he says, smiling at her. “I’m going to go now, but I’ll be back once we’re all done, alright?”

“Mm. Thank you dear.” She falls asleep immediately, burrowing herself deeper into his sheets. He flushes at the term of endearment, not expecting it at all. They weren’t together for very long before she was whisked away after all. 

“Good night Rin.” Beel leaves the room, closing the door quietly as he heads back to the gloom of the common room. 

Now that Rin had left it looked like what the brothers heard was finally fully sinking in. Everybody sits in silence at the revelation, the brothers all utterly shocked for the first time in a long time. The last time they felt this shocked was when Lucifer announced he was going to fight God. 

“I can’t believe it…” Belphegor stares at his hands in disbelief. “I almost killed the person that saved Lilith…” 

The entire time of Rin’s rescue and recovery, Belphegor was focused on trying to get close with his brothers again. He was convinced that killing Rin wouldn’t change anything. He could go back to living his normal life and pretend like none of this happened. But, of course she had to come back and throw this bombshell on all seven of them. And yet, Belphegor felt happier than he had for several millennia. Lilith lived, and she was happy. 

“Isn’t this great guys? Lilith was happy!” He seems to be the only one cheered up by this news, the others all looking at him with a slight disbelief. 

Lucifer gets up, sighing loudly. The weeks of his stress are now finally catching up to him and he feels as though he was about to collapse, leaning against the armchair. He knew that he needed to rest but between searching for answers and worrying about what would happen to Belphie should Diavolo change his mind, he never found the time to do anything like that. At least he had some of his answers now. 

“Mammon, I’ll be taking my leave now.  **Nobody** bother me,” Lucifer snarls, hoping he’d make it to his bed before his splitting headache takes him out. 

“Oi, Lucifer are ya sure ya should be going up to bed by yourself? Beel, do ya think ya could help him get to bed?” Mammon looks to Beelzebub, watching him get up. 

“Lucifer, I can carry you if you can’t walk,” the younger demon says, concern on his face for his eldest brother. 

“Beel, it’s fine. I can make it to bed myself.”

“This isn’t going to end well,” Levi whispers to Satan, all of them looking at the normally composed demon stagger around. A thud sounds as he collapses against the ground, making them all wince. 

“I’ll take him to his room,” Beel goes to pick his unconscious brother off the ground and deliver the second person of the day to bed.

“He’ll be alright, right Mammon?” Satan asks, uncharacteristically worried about Lucifer and looking for comfort in the “scumbag” of a demon. 

Mammon clicks his tongue, not exactly expecting having to act as the oldest in Lucifer’s stead. Normally, they’d just devolve into chaos until Lucifer came and literally whipped them into shape. He was the second oldest though and it was time for them to remember that. 

“Lucifer will be fine. He’s just stressed out ya know? Goin’ through all this stuff and holdin’ it all to himself…’course it wouldn’t end well. However, the fact of the matter still remains. Belphie, you still tried to kill a human.” Mammon turns his attention to his youngest brother. 

“As much as we all would like to do things like that, we don’t because we all understand how much trouble we’ll end up in. You’re lucky Rin’s nice enough to try and protect ya. I’ll be honest Belphie, if it were me in that position of hers I wouldn’t be the one tryin’ to save you.” 

“And who are you to tell me what to do Mammon? You’re just a dirty scumbag,” Belphegor smirks. “Just because Lucifer’s out doesn’t mean you get to become the big boss.”

Mammon’s eyes narrowed. Normally, he would just let it slide and let the others ridicule him but after seeing how stressed out Lucifer was and the countless nightmares he was having as he remembers Rin laying on the ground dying he wasn’t going to let him off the hook like this. 

“I get it Belphie, none of ya see me in the same way ya see Lucifer. However, it seems you've forgotten I’m second eldest for a reason. I’m not one to punish ya and ya know that, but I am tellin’ ya that ya need to keep yourself in check. It doesn’t matter how ya feel ‘bout her, but at the end of the day - she’s the one that saved ya from being imprisoned by Diavolo. I’m a lot nicer to y’all than Lucifer is but if ya do somethin’ like that again I might be forced to act. Ya understand?” he threatens.

The room feels like it dropped several degrees. Mammon was strong and they felt as though they all forgot about it. He was right - he was the second oldest for a reason. Just because he was as soft with them as he was, it didn’t mean he was weak. He crosses his arms before making his way out of the room, turning slightly to toss a few closing words towards Belphegor. 

“Ya better try to make up to Rin. If ya don’t, I have a feelin’ you an’ Beel will never be the same again. She’s not that bad once ya get to know her.” Belphegor nods.

“It’s fine. I’ll just say sorry and we’ll move on with our lives right?” he asks. Mammon leaves without answering, making Levi interject. 

“I don’t know. Rin’s nice but…I don’t know if she’s that nice. The way she’d scream at the characters on screen when we played games was a little scary. Reminds me a little bit of Satan.” Asmo nods. 

“Did you guys forget? Aiya’s Cardinal Sin is Lust, like me but her Secondary Sin is Wrath.” All the brothers stare at Asmo in disbelief. 

“She was so nice to us all the time though! She didn’t do anything to seem that angry, besides the gaming thing,” Levi mutters. 

“But look at Satan! He doesn’t do anything unless we make him angry,” Asmo points out. “I think that she might just be the same. Satan, you read a lot of books right? Do you know anything about Aiya?” Satan raises an eyebrow. 

“Why would I? I don’t think I’ve read anything about demons on the Earthly Realm for a while. Not only that, but I don’t think I can read that stuff now. I’ve forgotten the language that the older texts are in and would have to learn it again for it to make sense. 

“Anyway, this is about Belphie, not her. Belphie, you need to actually apologise and make it up to her,” Satan looks at him pointedly, making Belphegor scoff. 

“She’s just another demon, not like she’s Lord Diavolo or something. If anything, she should be flattered that I didn’t decide to attack her when she came back,” he says, rolling his eyes. 

“Belphie! She saved your life!” Asmo yells. “If it weren’t for her who knows what you’d be doing right now?! You’d be languishing in prison!” 

“Are you in love with her or something Asmo? Why are you defending her so much?” Asmo clenches his jaw, wanting nothing more than to smack that shit-eating grin off of Belphie’s face but resisting, glaring down Beel when he returns. 

“Talk some sense into your twin. If you don’t, you might have to watch Rin die again. I’m going to try and talk to her myself.” Asmo gets up, leaving the room. 

“I don’t get it, you’re letting some girl get in between all of us?” Belphegor implores, looking at Beelzebub. “Beel, it’s always been us.” 

“Belphie…they’re right. I think you should think about this a little more,” Beel says quietly. “Things could have turned out a lot worse for you.”

“Fine. I’ll try to make it up to her if you’re all going to be on my case about it!” Belphegor scowls, heading up to the attic to nap so that he wouldn’t have to see Rin again. 


	19. Mad Cow Disease

* * *

_ I’m so sorry things have to be this way. _

* * *

Lucifer wakes up groggily, the pounding in his head finally gone for the first time in months. His body feels looser and he thinks that he must have had a great sleep. A quick glance at his clock tells him he was asleep for most of the day, his D.D.D showing he slept into the next morning. He tries to get up when the sound of shuffling greets his ears, a figure moving in the low light of the room. 

“Oh good, you’re awake.” Rin’s face pops into view, startling him. 

“Why are you here?”

“I’m taking care of you. Mammon and Beel told me that you’ve been extra unwell recently, so I’m here to make sure you don’t keel over.” 

The candles all light up with a snap of her fingers, showing him the gentle smile she wore on her face. She holds a cup of something, offering it to him to take. 

“It’s just meant to help you restore a bit of your energy. In the time you’ve been asleep I’ve just been using magic and trying to make sure that your body doesn’t give out thanks to the stress you’ve been under.” She steps back after she finishes talking, rocking back and forth on her heels and watching him drink the concoction. 

“And why are you the one caring for me?” 

“Lucifer, all your brothers are exhausted. You’ve had them walking on eggshells with how aggressive and stressed you are. Beelzebub looks near tears whenever he sees me and I have to quite literally wrestle myself out of his hands to do anything. Belphegor’s making things more difficult because your brothers want an apology from him to me and I don’t want anything to do with him. Besides, I’m used to taking care of others. Indulge a little why don’t you.” She hums quietly to herself, moving around his room. 

“…thank you.” He watches her stiffen at the words before she turns back to face him. 

“I’m not doing anything expecting gratitude, Lucifer. I just think it’s the right thing to do. You’re in a position not many find themselves in.” A sigh leaves her lips. 

“Now that we’re alone, I wanted to know if there was something you wanted me to tell you further? I don’t mind.” 

“You aren’t mad at me for looking through your things?” She laughs at his question. 

“My, you sure do seem subdued. Maybe it’s because for once in your life you're not the one taking care of others. It must be nice to have someone looking after you right now. I’m not mad, I don’t get mad. But if I do, I promise you you’ll regret it for the rest of your days.” The thinly veiled threat was slipped in with her airy tone. “I do just want peace though. I have nothing to gain in fighting all the time.” 

“Why did you help Lilith? What did you gain from it? I didn’t give you anything, Diavolo did.”

It made no sense. Aiya wasn’t someone who was kind just to be kind…was she? Diavolo said that she was a conniving creature, Luciel told him that she was born a kitsune, a sly Japanese fox demon. That wouldn’t mean that she was someone who would just do things for the sake of doing it. There must have been something she gained from doing it. Lucifer kept himself up at night thinking about the endless possibilities and whys of what she did. None of it made sense to him. 

“Honestly, I didn’t have a reason for it. I saw an angel you loved dying. I saw Diavolo taking advantage of you. There was a part of me that thought that perhaps one day, you’d pay me back. Maybe I could ask you to get something off the top shelf for me.” She laughs at her own joke. 

“I mean it though. I’m not someone who sees someone dying and takes advantage of them if I don’t have a reason to. You were an angel falling, Lilith was dying. I could tell that this was destroying you from the inside out. I’m a demon, not an asshole.” She sits down on his bed next to him, shrugging. 

“I’ve been in the same position. I guess it’s almost funny how much I relate to you all. Do you remember being told about the death of the Faerie Prince? One of the prominent ones.” Lucifer nods.

“Yes. In Heaven a few angels were able to come down and mourn his death. It was a tragedy, or so I hear. I wasn’t able to go myself.”

“We were married. A lot of his attendants blamed me for his death. Some succubi were annoyed that he stopped sleeping with them after he wed so they got revenge on me by killing him. Similar to Lilith, Park died in my arms. When I saw that scene after coming down here, I recognised the heartbreak in your eyes. I had to do something. Diavolo could have made you do something for me, but I’ll just take your eternal gratitude instead.” 

“Aiya, how many times have you been married?” Lucifer asks, not expecting the violent look on her face. 

“Do  **not** call me by that name. I don’t want anyone calling me that.” She hugs herself, clenching her jaw. “Only special people can call me that.”

Sorry. I’ll leave now. Focus on feeling better Lucifer,” she says quickly. 

She runs out of his room, closing the door gently with magic as he listens to her footsteps moving down the hall. He didn’t realise how much weight that name carried for her but if her reaction was anything to go by, it was tough for her to hear it come from a strange voice. 

He chuckles to himself. She never answered his question about Roman. 

~~~

“Hi!” Beel gets out of his bed to greet Rin when she comes back, smiling until he sees the look on her face. “Did something happen? Did Belphie say something to you?” 

“No. I just need a minute.” She goes straight to his bed, flopping onto it face first and wrapping the blankets around herself. An arm comes out to open the blanket burrito. 

“You’re allowed in though.” 

He comes over, scooping her up and rewrapping them into the blanket, pulling the covers over both of their heads. She immediately curls up to him, burying her face into his chest as she begins to shake. His arms tighten around her, feeling more and more defeated as he realises that again, he couldn’t do anything for her. Her tears begin to dampen his shirt as muffled sobs ring into his chest, her own arms now coming to hug him tightly to her. 

“What’s wrong?” he asks softly, trying to get her to talk to him. “None of us can help you if you don’t tell us what’s bothering you.” 

She keeps crying and he doesn’t know what to do. She wasn’t like this before and when she was, Mammon dealt with her for most of it. Rin had only been back for two days but it was like she was going through a lifetime’s worth of emotions. Understandable, considering she was almost killed but it still hurt him a lot to watch her go through these things. All he could do was provide emotional support and make sure she was heard when she decided to talk. 

“Just so you know,” he starts again. “I don’t hate you. Remember when you asked what would happen if you told me your dark secrets? I’m guessing this is one of them.” 

The sobbing seems to lessen as she looks up at him with teary eyes. Beel smiles softly at her and wipes the tears off a little with his hand, squeezing her soft cheeks lightly. 

“I mean it.” She blinks at him. 

“You do?” she asks shakily. He tucks her head under his chin. 

“I do.” 

“I’m really sorry Beelzebub. I don’t think Belphegor and I can get along. I know how much you love him, and I know how much the others all care for him but every time I see him-I just, I just can’t. I just always think about him trying to kill me and I can’t stand it. I want to kill myself for not fighting back. I should have fought back, but I know that I couldn’t.

“If I fought back you’d hate me forever. If I killed Belphegor you’d hate me and I don’t want you to hate me Beel. You’re so nice. You make me feel so safe.” He runs his fingers through her hair. 

“I don’t think that you should find a demon’s company comforting,” he says, laughing slightly.. 

“I do. I know you just found out I’m a demon but do me a favour and remember that a little more Beel,” she teases gently, lifting his spirits slightly. 

“Right. I forgot. Just give me a bit to remember, okay?” He brushes a kiss against her hair, the sobbing finally done as she replaces them with hiccupy breaths. 

“If you and Belphie don’t become best friends that’s okay with me. But can you try to get along please?” She nods.

“I can get along with anyone. Luciel and I sort of made up after all.” His heart sinks back down as he heard that name. 

“Rin, how many times have you been married?” She laughs bitterly. 

“Why both you and Lucifer gotta ask me that huh?” Her grip on him loosens but he holds her tighter, wanting her to know that he wasn’t asking out of malice, just a bit of morbid curiosity on his part. 

“Five. Five times I’ve mated. I’ve been “married” more than that. I...I don’t want to talk about the differences between the marriages. Luciel was the third one.” Her hand comes up to do the air quotations. They must have not meant anything to her then. 

“Why did they end?”

“The humans died on me. The immortals? We just…didn’t get along well enough and we broke up. Divorce. I still have their rings though. They’re all important to me.” 

Rin sits up and Beel joins her, the blanket sitting around the two like a fort. She puts her left hand in his, pulling his head down to hers. The tops of their heads touch as they sit a little closer to each other, knees touching as she brings her other hand to each of the five rings, pointing them all out to him. He blushes a bit at their proximity, the act feeling incredibly intimate. 

“This was from my first husband. It’s an old Danish ring. I don’t know how much you know about human eras, but he was a viking when we first met. He got a new one made for me a few centuries after we broke up because the old one, in his opinion, was a little too rough. It’s written in old runes.” It was a thick band of metal with lines carved in, sitting on her first finger . She takes his hand in hers, bringing his fingers to touch the ring she was talking about. 

“This was from the second, a faerie Prince named Park. Lucifer said that he remembered a little bit about him.” The thin metal was intricately cast and woven to look like thin tree branches, small green jewels shaped like leaves resting on the branches. The theme of the ring perfectly matches the green magic that the kingdom must have used sits on her second finger.

“The third was Luciel’s.” A black band with Luciel’s sigil glowing gold sat above Park’s ring, both rings emitting a dull glow due to their magic property. 

“These two are from my human mates. They’re both similar, just gold wedding bands I’ve had adjusted from my husband’s ring to mine to be small enough to fit on my pinky. I have both sets of rings with them because they agreed to give them to me when they’d die. My own rings from these sets I’ve put onto a hook and turned into earrings. I don’t always wear them though.” Beel looks at her fingers curiously. 

“Isn’t it human custom to wear wedding rings on the fourth finger of your left hand? Why are all of yours on different fingers?” A small smile forms on her face at his question.

“It’s for you,” she says shyly, bringing his hand to the bare finger. “When I start dating a new mate I move the previous mate’s ring away.” His eyes widen. 

“Mate? Something that serious you know already?” He felt his heart thump in his chest. 

Mating was a serious thing for demons and now considering that it was between two demons it means even more. Not all demons had mates but the ones that did had an innate sense of who it was that they were meant to end up with. If Rin was saying that he was her mate, then that meant that they were meant to be together for, well, ever. He hadn’t even thought about if he had his own mate, but if no alarm bells were going off in his head then maybe she was his mate.

“I always do Beel,” she says, stroking the back of his hand with her thumb. “But the two times I’ve been with an immortal creature like me, it never ends well.” A tear falls onto their joined hands. 

“Sorry, I don’t want to think about it too much Beel. I don’t wanna look for the day that you’ll leave me,” Her voice begins to shake again. 

“Just…let me have however many years we’ll have together, alright?” she asks, holding his hand in both hers tightly. 

“I promise you I’ll do my best to make you happy. I can cook for you all you want, follow you around, anything. If you’ll love me, I’ll do anything Beelzebub,” she pleads.

“Do you think I’ll abandon you that easily?” he asks her gently. “We haven’t been together for that long yet, but my feelings for you aren’t going to disappear that easily Rin.” 

He takes his hand out of hers, pulling her into his lap. She feels warm against his chest, a stark reminder that she was alive. She was living and breathing and in his arms and he finds himself squeezing her tighter. Her arms come to wrap around his neck, moving around a bit to make herself comfier in his hold. He takes advantage of their proximity and her tiredness to spring a surprise kiss on her lips, making her gasp in shock against him.

“I care about you a lot Rin,” he says, kissing her again. 

She melts into him completely, kissing him back and he feels warmth spread through his chest. He desperately wanted to make up for lost time, his need and desire for her beginning to overwhelm him as she presses herself closer to him, whining lightly in response to his attention to her. At his light nips at her bottom lip she opens her mouth, moaning against him as he begins to explore her mouth with his tongue, hands grasping even tighter at the back of his shirt in response. 

Beel begins to move her back onto the bed, laying her down and continuing to lavish her in affection, pinning her underneath him as they continue to make out, taking in every noise of satisfaction she makes. A hand comes up to cup her chin, angling her face towards him and stroking the soft skin of her cheek as he straddles her, pulling back after a few long moments. 

Her lips were now kiss swollen, seeming even plumper after his eagerness to kiss her made him bite her a little harder than normal. She didn’t seem to mind though, the lusty haze in her eyes and besotted look on her face making his heart skip a beat. He found himself wondering how he survived those two months without her at his side, why he didn’t confess sooner. If he did, he would have been able to see this lovesick expression on her face earlier. 

“Are you just gonna stare at me like that?” she says slowly, face turning red at his attention. She tries to covers her face with a hand, him grabbing it before putting it up against his cheek. 

“I’m just admiring you,” he coos, leaning down to kiss her jaw. Her hand stops him as he nears the top of her turtleneck, freezing him in place.

“You never wore turtlenecks before,” he murmurs. “Why now? You said it was too warm.” 

“Beelzebub I’m too tired to cry again!” she whines, turning her face into his pillow. 

“Get off me for a second and prepare for a real mood killer.”

Beel listens, moving back with a confused look on his face. His cock twitches in his pants at the sight of her beginning to strip in front of him, not knowing what exactly to expect until the fabric fully leaves her body, leaving her bra clad as he takes in her body. 

“…Belphie did that, right?” Beel stares at her marred skin, unable to process what he knew was the truth. 

(descriptions of old scars)

The scar is massive, just the slightest bit smaller than his hand in width and dragging to end just a little past the cups of the bra she wore. It starts right at her throat, making him realise that that was probably why she was wearing the turtleneck despite being too warm in it. Her hands begin to knead at the fabric in her hand as his eyes go up and down the scar. 

“To hide this under my glamour would be too tiring. For now, I just have to cover it up until it heals enough that it’s just an old scar. Maybe another month or two for this until I can fully conceal it. The other scars were smaller so I don’t have an issue with it at all.”

“Do you have others?” he asks, afraid of the answer. 

“Lotsa ‘em,” she mutters, bringing her hands back to her chest. “I don’t think you’ll wanna see ‘em…” 

Beelzebub brings a hand to her cheek, directing her gaze back to him. Her eyes are red-rimmed with all the tears she shed, dried tears leaving a bit of residue on her face. She leans into his touch, humming lightly as she lets him look at her, eyes closing to let him gather his thoughts.

“I want to see them - if you’re willing to show them to me that is.” 

She blinks at him before he watches her eyes turn red, round pupils thinning out and becoming similar to Levi’s as they became vertical slits. The light humming of magic fills the air between them as more and more scars appear. Amethyst eyes trailed over the discoloured skin, the gashes almost looking like they came from a beast. 

“How’d you get them?” 

“Uhm.” Her eyebrows draw together as she looks down at her body. 

**_(short mention of self harm-one line)_ **

“I don’t remember them all. Some are self-inflicted, like these ones over my heart and stomach. Some are just battle wounds.” Her voice sounds small as she looks back at him, her face also marked up slightly. 

“I know that this isn’t exactly the pinnacle of beauty. I’d understand if you want to leave me after this. There are other demons, ones with less of a history than mine. Way less gorey too.” 

He watches curiously as other markings appear on her body, recognising some of them as names. His eyes widen as he sees his own name appear, hand reaching out to trace over the letters carefully. 

“This is how I know who my mates will be,” she begins. 

“When it’s time for me to mate again and I’ve met a mate then their name appears on my body like a tattoo. Once their name appears it’s my job to court them and try to mate because it means they have slight feelings for me that will grow if I talk to them. I think. It’s worked so far at least.

“In the case of Luciel, it seems that while he was my mate he didn’t want to accept it at first so…that’s the only mate where things didn’t seem to work out properly. As you can see, your name’s right there.”

She begins to put her shirt on but Beel puts out a hand to stop her. Rin pauses, hands shaking slightly. He recognises the tremors in her body as ones that preceded her crying and moves quickly, wrapping her in his arms and pulling her into his lap. He shushes her lightly as his cheek rests against her hair. 

“Rin, you’ve been crying too much. Just…why don’t you take a break?” 

His hold around her tightens as he lets her sob tiredly into his chest, feeling fatigued himself at dealing with such a whirlwind of emotions. Her arms wrap around him as she leans in even more, becoming dead weight as she finally falls asleep, breathing evening out as she becomes slack in his hold. 

Beel shifts around, managing to lay her on his bed without her waking up, forgoing putting her turtleneck back on because of the tight collar. She shifts around a bit, curling herself around his blanket as he sits down next to her sleeping body, stroking her hair softly. He presses a light kiss to her brows when he sees them scrunch up, smiling to himself when they straighten back out.

“I’m going to go and wipe your face alright?” he says softly, knowing she probably couldn’t hear him but doing it anyway. He was getting a little too used to talking to her when she wasn’t awake. 

He gets up, heading to the washroom to dampen a washcloth, waiting patiently for the water to run warm when he hears the door to the bedroom open and Belphie’s dragging footsteps following afterwards. They seem to carry on for far too long for them to just be heading towards his bed and Beel feels his heart catch in his throat at the thought of Belphie trying something now that she was asleep. He keeps quiet though, resisting the urge to run outside and confront his twin, wetting the washcloth in his hand. 

“You know…” he hears Belphie’s sleepy drawl begin. “You’ve caused me a world of trouble. You didn’t have to come here and turn all our lives upside down like this, but you did. Even Beel’s mad at me and do you know how hard that is to do?” 

Beel hears the springs on his mattress squeak as Belphie shifts around, the fabric rubbing up against Belphie’s loose pants. He panics, poking his head out the bathroom to see his twin hunched over his girlfriend’s sleeping form, face dangerously close to hers. 

“I want to hurt you, make you pay for the things you’ve done. If it weren’t for you, Lucifer wouldn’t have chewed me out, Mammon wouldn’t have embarrassed me in front of everybody. Everyone chewed me out. Are you trying to get my family to hate me or something?” His tone becomes more hostile and Beel runs out of the washroom, taking Belphie and moving him off his bed. 

“Belphie, quit it. She’s tired. You’re going too far,” he says, not wanting to start a fight. 

“The others aren’t wrong though, and you know it. Just admit it,” Beel implores, too tired to deal with Belphie’s whining right now. 

“You messed up this time, and it won’t hurt you to apologise.”

“She’s the one who came in and messed everything up! If it weren’t for her-”

“Belphegor, if it weren’t for her you’d still be in the attic!” Beel raises his voice for once, using his twin’s full name for the first time since…

He never uses Belphie’s full name. 

“Belphie, please just…just go away for now. Please. Before we do something we regret. Please?” Beel’s exhaustion begins to catch up with him, mind becoming too muddled to think properly.

“Fine. I see how it is.” Belphie’s eyes flash with anger. “You’re choosing her over me. Whatever. I’ll be in the attic if you change your mind.”

He storms out of the room, Beel sighing loudly once the door slams closed. The sink was still running in the washroom and he heads back in to wring out the washcloth still in his hand. 

Once he finishes, he returns to the bed, sitting down and putting her head in his lap. Gently he strokes her hair and wipes down her face. She groans a bit in her sleep, adjusting herself as she seemed to make herself more comfortable in his lap. Sleepily, she turns to face his stomach as her arms go to loosely hug him. A lazy smile makes its way onto her face as a light noise of contentment leaves her throat, easing Beel’s worries. 

“You look like you’re doing better,” he mutters. “Feel better?” He knows she won’t respond, but just pretending that she could hear him made his heart feel lighter. 

“I know you don’t want to hurt us. You care about us a lot, and I can tell. You didn’t even want Belphie to get arrested and he tried to kill you.” His eyes focus on her sleeping face, thumb brushing over her cheek. 

“One day though, I want us all to get along well okay? You, me, Belphie. You guys don’t have to love each other.” He frowns a bit. “I think I’d get a little jealous if you got closer to Belphie than me. If you two could get along though, that’d make me really happy. If you and Belphie could smile and laugh together…I don’t think I want much else honestly.” 

He leans down to press a light kiss to her cheek, chuckling at her whine when he pulls back. 

“Alright, alright.” He presses kisses all over her face, laughing more when she smiles happily in her sleep and cuddles closer to him. 

“You’re so needy,” he teases, pressing his nose against her cheek and breathing in her scent.

Being her mate wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. Thinking about being with her for the rest of his life made him very happy, another smile gracing his lips as he thought about it. Living with her forever, holding her forever, being with her forever, it sounded so amazing to him. He’d never felt the need to mate someone before outside of his heat, so he didn’t know if this warmth in his chest was, but he knew that loving her isn't the worse thing he could do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh last chapter   
> I really couldn't find a better title for it :///


End file.
